Bear Naked Truth (Southern Shifters Book 7) (11 page)

F
our days later
, Jessa was still trying to wrap her mind around everything that had happened. She'd begun settling down with the help of Sienna by taking over the early morning kitchen duties so she could spend more time on the 'running of the business bullshit' as she liked to call it.

As the only humans living at Dark Moon, they discovered quickly they had a lot in common and were in the process of forging a friendship. A new experience for her, but one she was starting to really enjoy.

Having a new job also helped her deal with the stress of feeling betrayed by Calder's adopted family. Although in reality very few of them were involved and she'd had to make that distinction quickly.

It wasn't healthy or cool for her to blame everyone. Especially, Calder. Tensions were running high around the group simply because they were waiting for Rafe and Bhric to make a move for Simon, which could happen at any time. But she noticed more tension than usual between Calder and Bhric and knew it had to do with her.

She hated to be the cause of friction, but she'd decided right off to stay out of it. The situation with the Blackwoods was complicated and while stopping them seemed important, she wanted as little to do with it as possible for now.

She was more interested in her developing relationship with Calder and what that meant for their future.

The frenzied need between them had only grown hotter, making it impossible for either of them to keep their hands off of each other. It didn't hurt that Calder was a complete and total sex God.

Speaking of hot... Standing here thinking about sex made her itchy to go and find him.

"Hey, babe." Calder walked into the room, crossed over to her and grabbed her for a kiss. By the time he let go, her head was spinning and her panties were damp.

"Hey, yourself."

"Did you miss me?" He peppered kisses along her neck and jaw until she started to squirm.

"I missed your perfect body. Does that count?" She smiled down at him, hoping he'd take the hint she nearly clobbered him with.

"You just using me for hot sex?" He slipped his hand between them and tweaked one of her nipples. "I'm totally on board with that by the way," he whispered against her ear.

He walked them over to the couch and dropped down into the butter soft leather and pulled her down on top of him. "I think you should totally take advantage of me."

Hmm. She liked that idea. "You know. If we keep this up I might end up pregnant sooner rather than later. Which might not be a bad thing if we are going to have a big family. Unless of course Simon has me on something that's going to prevent that."

Calder tensed and she pulled back to get a better look at him. "What?" she asked. "Please don't tell me Simon or Bhric have done something else to me. I don't think I can take any more news like that right now.

He shook his head. "No. Nothing like that."

"Then what?" She chewed on her bottom lip and waited for him to deliver whatever bad news he had this time.

"It's not you, it's me."

"Are you kidding me?" She tried to scramble off his lap, but he pinned her down.

"I don't come without flaws, you know. If you knew, you might not want a big family with me." His pain filled voice startled her. Whatever he had to say wasn't going to be easy.

"What do you mean?" She slid her hand into his.

"I know I scared you out there and I wish I could promise it won't happen again. But it probably will. Ever since my transition I've occasionally had difficulty retaining control of my bear. And apparently he loves nothing more than to resort to violence."

"What kind of violence?" she asked, stroking the whisper of hair across his chest.

His head came up and his lips formed a half smile. "Mostly property destruction. Bhric's got a special kind of obstacle course set up for me in the woods behind Dark Moon for when I feel the need to get aggressive."

"That doesn't sound so bad," she said softly.

The smiled disappeared and he looked away from her. "As far as I know there's only been one time the bear wanted to kill without provocation." He scrubbed his hands over his face and then threaded them through his hair.

It was obvious this one time had been bad and he still had trouble facing it.

She lifted her hand and placed it on the side of his face so he could turn into her touch to ease his distress. She loved that her touch meant that much to him. "You can tell me. I'm not going to judge you."

"You should. Everyone should."

The anguish in his eyes struck her soul deep. She didn't even need to hear the rest of the story to know how hard this would be on him.

"My beautiful little sister, babe. Aiyanna. You just can't imagine. God had blessed our family with the most beautiful, sweet creature to grace this earth and in the midst of my first shift, I killed her."

She gasped, quickly covering her mouth and wishing she could have hidden her reaction. She shook her head in disbelief because she simply couldn't wrap her head around what he said and the gentle man whose arms were now curved around her body holding her tight.

"I find it impossible to believe that you could ever kill someone you loved. It had to be an accident. Had to be."

"I'm afraid we'll never know for sure. Those early years of my transition have a lot of blank spots. The only thing I remember is the overwhelming pain tearing my body apart and then nothing after that until I woke up next to her."

The absolute tragedy of what he was telling her broke her heart for him. And explained so much. Why he loved Niki and Hannah with everything he had. They weren't just his 'friend and her baby'. They were his family and he was fully prepared to spend the rest of his life protecting them.

There might still be a lot she didn't know about shifters, but her instincts on this were strong. He was certainly no cold-blooded killer.

She planted her hands on her hips and glared at him. "I don't care. Do you hear me? I don't care if you can't remember. I KNOW. IN HERE." She stabbed at her chest. "It
was
an accident."

Calder pressed a gentle kiss to her lips, before picking her up in his arms so she could wrap her legs around his waist. "You are so much more than I deserve. I hope you know that."

Her heart tripped and her belly fluttered. "That goes both ways, big guy." She leaned forward and nipped at his neck with her tiny human teeth.

"You still willing to be mine, babe? I know we’re still new, but this is it for me. I'm falling hard," he confessed.

His soft words caressed her skin a moment before he crushed her lips in a need filled kiss.

When she could finally breath again, she lifted a hand and touched his strong jaw. (Touching him was something she simply could not stop doing.)

"Yeah," she replied, staring into his always stunning blue eyes. "And I still think we should have a big family."

She didn't get a chance to say anything else. Calder slid his hand around her neck, pulled her to him and kissed her again.

They didn't need to talk anymore. She got everything she needed in that kiss and he did as well.

They'd been two strangers struggling to fit in until fate and a sugar addiction made them collide.

Jessa slid her hand between them and put his hand over her heartbeat.

Now they were home.

C
alder watched
Jessa through the bakery window on Main Street and marveled over how lucky he truly was. She was smiling up at a customer and filling a big box of donuts for her. Her happiness at working for Sienna was infectious and everyone was quickly falling in love with her. Him included.

Despite telling her everything about his dangerous grizzly she was still dead set on them starting a family as soon as everything was settled. He looked down at Hannah sleeping in his arms and imagined his own child nestled against him.

Maybe one day. As it turned out Simon
had
given Jessa something to prevent pregnancy and they still had some time before that would wear off. Not that that kept him from getting inside her every moment he could.

Even now seeing her cute ass wrapped in tight denim as she bent over to get something out of the case made him hard. As soon as he got her alone he was going to make her repeat that move naked.

"You know you don't have to stalk her anymore right?"

"Sure he does. That's one of the fun parts of mating."

Calder smiled at the sound of Niki and Dean's voices behind him. "Come to collect?" he asked.

Dean stepped into his line of vision and reached for his daughter. "Yep. I think she's ready for some daddy time."

"You hear Greer's back?" Dean asked.

"Yep. About time. I can't believe he took almost two months for a honeymoon. The bastard." Of course that was total bullshit. The minute he had the opportunity to take Jessa somewhere fun they might not come back for a very long time. His pants got tighter just thinking about it.

"You're so full of shit."

Calder snorted. "Whatever." He was, but that didn't mean he would admit it.

"C'mon, let's stop peeping and go in. I'm ready for a cupcake or two." Niki walked past them and sashayed into the bakery. Through the window he watched Jessa greet her with a hug and a smile.

"Everything okay with you?" Dean asked.

"Yep." Or at least he was getting there thanks to his woman. It might sound corny, but loving her had begun to heal him.

"Good. We've got enough bullshit coming for you to let anything mess with your head." With that Dean followed his mate inside.

Calder considered the Dark Moon crew his brothers. Except when said brothers decided to be pushy know it alls. He opened the door and followed his family. Jessa was due for a break and he needed a kiss.

"Hey, babe."

She smiled over at him. "Hey, yourself."

"Break time right?"

She must have sensed his intentions because her eyes widened and her face turned red. "It can be."

"Good. Want to go for a ride?"

"Absolutely." She untied the apron covering her clothes and hooked it on the wall. "Let me go tell, Sienna I'm leaving."

"Ooh Si's back from visiting Marcy?" Niki asked. "Tell her to get her cute butt out here and catch me up. She always comes home with good gossip."

Calder shook his head. He could not understand how Niki had turned into a domesticated, gun toting gossip hound. He turned back to Jessa and stopped.

She stood there her face all scrunched up and looking confused.

"What's wrong, babe?"

"Sienna's friend's name is Marcy?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Is that the same Marcy that Bhric's seeing?"

The entire room stilled, everyone but Hannah going quiet.

"Where'd you get that idea? Bhric's not seeing anyone, babe." Although the sinking feeling in his stomach had him worried. Looked like he might not get that ride today after all.

"That night on the porch with Shane he mentioned a Marcy. Called her his human side piece. Damn, where did he say she lived?" She rubbed her head as if that might nudge her memory.

"Sweetwater?" Sienna had come in from the kitchen to join them.

"Yes!" She pointed at Sienna. "That's it. Does your friend live there?"

"Yes." Sienna had gone pale.

"Fuck." Calder reached for his cell phone in his back pocket and dialed Bhric.

"What?" Their leader had been on edge for months. He'd also taken to disappearing several nights a week. Something was up with him, but Calder didn't like to pry in other people's business.

"You need to get over to Sienna's place. We've got a problem."

He heard the squeak of Bhric's office chair as stood. "On my way."

"You might want to hurry. Oh and bring Gage with you."

R
eady to read more
? Dying to know what the hell Bhric is up to? You can read more and find out what’s next at
http://elizagayle.net/Bhric

S
outhern Shifters Series
:

DIRTY SEXY FURRY

MATE NIGHT

ALPHA KNOWS BEST

BAD KITTY

BE WERE

SHIFTIN’ DIRTY

BEAR NAKED TRUTH

D
evils Point Wolves
:

WILD

WICKED

WANTED

FERAL

FIERCE

FURY

P
entacles of Magick Series
:

UNTAMED MAGICK

MAGICK IGNITED

FORCE OF MAGICK

MAGICK PROVOKED

S
ingle titles
:

VAMPIRE AWAKENING

THE BILLIONAIRE'S DEMON

SLAVE TO PLEASURE

P
urgatory Masters Series
:

TUCKER'S FALL
(also available in paperback & audio)

LEVI'S ULTIMATUM
(also available in paperback & audio)

MASON'S RULE
(Also available in Paperback)

P
urgatory Club
:

ROPED
(also available in audio)

WATCH ME
(also available in audio)

TEASED

BURN

BOTTOMS UP

HOLD ME CLOSE
(also available in paperback)

W
hat Alex Wants Series
:

SWEET SUBMISSION

RECLAIMING HIS SUBMISSIVE

P
leasure Playground Series
:

PLAY WITH ME
(also available in paperback & audio)

POWER PLAY

S
ingle Title
:

SUBMISSIVE BEAUTY