Shifters of Grrr 1 (84 page)

So, Cassidy was a breath of fresh air. I was a bit off my game, but it didn’t seem to matter. She had no game. She didn’t pretend. She was real. Sweet. Silly. Funny.
 

I was all about her.
 

That kiss, despite the inebriated circumstances it rotated around, had been one of the best in my life. Which was rather amusing. I mean, what’s a guy to think when the woman he’s kissing passes out?!
 

I knew she was a light-weight when it came to alcohol once she’d made her way through the second stout. But, it was her home, her beer and who was I to prevent her from ending a shitty afternoon and evening the way she wanted to end it. I mean, jail can suck, right?

So, I’d just decided that I’d do what any decent guy would do, and adult-babysit until she made her way to sleepy-time.

Her and I locking lips had just been the unexpected, icing on the cake. A rather delicious taste of what the future held for us if I played this right.
 

Sitting there, eating breakfast, the best I could make, with her recouping from her hangover, I felt that sweetness passing backing and forth between us. She was clutching at and nursing her big mug of coffee as if her very life depended on it.

Deciding not to poke the bear, so to speak, I ate in silence and pulled my
MacBook
over to peruse it while having breakfast.

She ate cautiously at first, but then her hunger caught up with her. I caught her eyeing me judiciously at times, but it was the good kind. The pensive look of someone who’s waking up to the reality of a shared and mutual attraction. I simply waited.
 

Ultimately, I’d be the complete gentleman. There was only one way to proceed. I’d clean up our meal, tell her I was heading out to finish the edit and that I’d connect with her as soon as I was done. I’d allow for a couple of days to pass. Allow her enough time to wrap her head around the idea of there being mutually shared attraction between us.
 

For me, this felt natural. I’d come to Boston with a purpose in mind. Circumstance and instinct had both brought me here and kicked it into gear.
 

There was just the issue of me being a shifter.
 

A bear shifter, that would need to be revealed. Shared and exposed. I needed to be cautious in how I went about it.
 

As it was, I’d never gotten used to being the wrecking ball to someone’s reality. Hell, half the time it happened entirely accidentally and most tossed it up to temporary insanity or a strange trip. Blame it on the mushrooms in their burger they’d eaten at lunch or whatever it took for them to be able to push it aside, deep into their mind, and far, far away. Never to be pulled out.
 

That was how it worked for my kind. We could count on humanity’s inability to grasp or fathom that the supernatural, the paranormal was a reality. One that they were conveniently protected from at a great cost.
 

With Cassidy, or Cass, as I was already calling her by – I wanted to be upfront, honest, and open straight from the get-go. I didn’t want to have any secrets between the two of us. There were a few things I needed to tell her.
 

First, that I had been married and divorced.

Second, that once this edit was done, she’d need to fire me since I was romantically interested in her.

Third, that I was a grizzly-bear shifter from the
Rocky Mountains
region and seeking a mate.
 

The first two would be reasonably easy, the last one though… I needed to figure out a way to go about it. But how?

How indeed…

*
 
*
 
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(( TO BE CONTINUED IN
PART 2
))

Or, if you prefer…

((Parts 1-3
BUNDLE
))

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Accidental Mate - Shelley Shifter

Accidental Mate:
 

A BBW Billionaire Shifter Romance

http://www.amazon.com/Shelley-Shifter/e/B00WFAUJ3G/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_2?qid=1438870056&sr=1-2

Author Bio:
 

Shelley can't think of a better way to spend a day than being curled up with an engrossing book and a cup of steaming coffee. She tames her overactive imagination by weaving tales of her own, almost always featuring a sexy shifter or two and a good dose of steamy romance. She dreams of having her own bear protector, but right now the only protector she has while writing her stories is her huge furry orange dog, Garfield. 

Mailing list link:
http://eepurl.com/bkpQDr
 

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Brett

Chapter 2: Simone

Chapter 3: Brett

Chapter 4: Simone

Chapter 5: Brett

Chapter 6: Simone

Chapter 7: Brett

Chapter 8: Simone

Chapter 9: Brett

Chapter 10: Simone

Chapter 1: Brett

Brett stood at the top of the slope, poising himself for yet another run down the steep incline. For a moment, he simply regarded the pristine snow, breathing in the crisp air and squinting against the almost supernatural glitter of sunrays bouncing off the icy crystal surface. He felt free and content, full of exhilaration at the mere prospect of racing down, the biting wind hissing past him, his skis leaving deep grooves in the track and a fan of white powder rising behind him at each swift turn.
 

Beside the pure bliss of being among the unspoiled beauty of the mountains, he was grateful that the sport gave him at least a few minutes of mindless, physical exertion. He didn't need to think, but simply enjoy the primal pleasure of just being alive. And that's all he wanted right now, given everything that had been on his mind lately.
 

Only a couple of days ago he had finally received the dreaded call that he was now marked by his clan leader. The words still rang clear in his mind from replaying the conversation over and over and looking for a seemingly impossible solution.
 

"It's time Brett," Dane's voice had come through the phone receiver, deep and growly, perfectly suitable to the largest, burliest bear that was the leader of Brett's clan, "You didn't think we'd forgotten all about you, did you?"

"Dane, it's really not a good time," Brett had tried to counter, "I'm just about to close the largest deal the company has ever come across. I swear, I'm working my ass off. I have no time for women."

"The deal can wait, the moon can't. You know what disobeying would mean."

Brett knew very well. When he'd agreed to leave his clan to infiltrate the human society and head one of the many multi-million corporations across the country, he'd realized it wouldn't be forever. Only, he hadn't noticed the time go by so quickly and had completely lost track of his vow. Now that the bear shifters of Shadow Lake controlled more and more businesses and kept increasing their wealth and influence, still remaining in the dark among humans, the clan needed to make sure that the loyalty of their members hadn't faltered and that they still had a tight grip on them. Hence the vow.

Before leaving the woodlands to become a CEO of his corporation and join at least a dozen other bear shifters, successfully running their own companies, Brett had been asked to swear a solemn pledge. He had a full moon cycle to find a mate to bind his fate to, or his clan's leader had the right to pick one for him. Of course, he knew that Dane had already picked a bear for him that would securely tie him back to the clan. It wasn't like he wanted to disobey, but a lifetime with a woman that was not his true mate as dictated by his heart seemed like agony.
 

"If you fail to return with your chosen mate and present her to the clan for approval by the end of the week," Dane had gone on, "I'm afraid, we'll have to call you back and join you with the mate I've chosen for you. We need our clan to keep growing and that should be your primary concern right now. We can let a deal go by, but we can't let our numbers dwindle just because you've suddenly become a super-businessman."

Brett's heart had sunk at the thought. It just wasn't possible. He'd spent an entire year tirelessly working in his glass-and-steel offices, surrounded by hundreds of employees, and his heart hadn't as much as flinched in the presence of a woman. What were the chances that he'd meet his true mate in seven days? Not to mention expose his nature to her and convince her to go be presented to a clan of bear shifters. From what he'd learned about humans, any woman would find him insane.
 

He'd done the only thing that he could possibly bear after hanging up the phone. He'd taken the day off, and quickly piling his ski equipment in the back of his sports Range Rover, he'd taken off for the mountains for a few hours of uninterrupted joy, putting off the impossible task at hand. Avoiding trouble was very uncharacteristic of him when it came to business, but this was different. A parallel universe different.
 

Now, Brett took a deep breath and plunged himself down the deserted slope, the rush of adrenaline almost immediately hitting his head. He let his thoughts leave his mind completely and succumbed to the overwhelming sensation of flying through the snow. He was almost in a state of trancelike peace despite the intense speed, his bear instincts effectively alert to protect him against crashing to his death into a rock or a pine tree, when he heard the crack.
 

As he impulsively turned to look, he knew even his bear couldn't withstand what was coming. A white tsunami was suddenly gaining speed in his direction, wiping out everything in its way, splintering and burying every tree that dared stand before it. Brett jammed his ski poles into the snow and started pumping to propel himself forward even faster, but his abnormal strength was no match for the force of nature. When the avalanche finally hit, the crashing noise was deafening and in mere moments Brett found himself tumbling amid a white, freezing blanket. Then everything went dark and sharp pain squeezed his limbs, the noise piercing his ears and the snow suffocating him until in a single moment everything grew quiet and still.
 

He was stuck and not in the glistening powder he'd rushed through with his skis a moment ago, but rather buried in what felt like a grave of thick earth with not an inch of space to move in. The pressure of the enormous weight on his body would have crushed him, if he hadn't realized in his last moment of clarity that he needed to shift into a bear to stand a better chance of surviving. Then, with the buzzing in his ears intensifying and the blur before his eyes growing blacker, he finally gave in.
 

Chapter 2: Simone

"May I interest you in something a bit more entertaining than these fossil books?" Charles whispered and leaned in to nibble Simone's earlobe, placing his arms around her shoulders from behind.
 

Simone wiggled her head to brush him off, her pen never pausing from transcribing obscure Latin terms from the thick textbook into her notepad.
 

"Come on, Charlie," she pleaded, "you know I can't. I promise things will get back to normal after tonight. And these are not fossils. It's human bones, I've told you a million times."

With an exaggerated sigh, Charles plopped himself on the sofa by her desk and put his hands behind his neck.
 

"Yeah, thanks for clarifying that for me," he said, rolling his eyes. "You are no fun anymore."

"Please, honey," Simone said, "I really can't get into this right now. The exam is tomorrow and I swear I'll be all fun and games after that."

"Sure, like you've ever been into fun
or
games. All you care about is this stupid degree, it's like you don't have a fiancé. Or a life."

Simone knew there was a bit of truth to his words. She'd been obsessing over the upcoming medical exam for weeks, and though it seemed like her life was passing her by while she hunched over the classic volumes of anatomy, taking copious notes and repeating unreadable names out loud for hours at a time, she was driven to succeed this time. She'd failed that same exam twice already and tomorrow was her last chance to show that she hadn't wasted the six years of medical school only to shame herself in front of everyone and prove the job just wasn't right for her. It was the only thing she'd ever wanted. Well, besides living the best years of her life to the fullest and enjoying her engagement to the most gorgeous man she'd ever met. Unfortunately, presently the exam came first.
 

Simone's mother's greatest regret, which she had successfully managed to transfer onto her daughter, was that she had settled for being a nurse, rather than pursuing medicine. Simone herself had grown up living up to her mom's ambitious expectations and the situation had only gotten worse a few years ago when her mom had lost her job following a complicated trial. It had revolved around a case of a doctor's error. A woman had been misdiagnosed and Simone's mother had administered the wrong medication as a result, which had led to the patient's untimely death. Ever since the incident, the only way the family name could be once again redeemed, in her mother's view, was through Simone's success at gaining a medical degree. It had by no means been easy and her confidence had suffered constant abuse from both her mom (for never studying enough) and her fiancé (for being boring and... (she hated even the sound of the word) frigid."