Loved by the Bear - Part 1 Read online

  Loved by the Bear - Part 1

  V. Vaughn

  Sugarloaf Press

  Copyright © 2018 by V. Vaughn

  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.

  Cover by Croco Designs

  Editing by Jodi Henley and Angie Ramey

  Contents

  About This Book

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  More from V. Vaughn

  About the Author

  About This Book

  Audrey - I’m not sure what I was hoping to find when I returned to my mother’s hometown in California twenty-five years after she'd moved to Maine. It sure wasn’t the hot stranger I had to leave behind when I got word my brother had been kidnapped. The guy was supposed to be a one-night stand, but even though I’m three thousand miles away from him, he’s crowding my mind with memories when my focus needs to on my brother Connell’s rescue. Even more importantly, I should be thinking about the implications of the Eradicators’ return for vengeance against werebear.

  Max - Audrey Le Roux had no idea her carefree days were about to come to an abrupt halt the night we met. But I did. I shouldn’t have let her see me… or have me. I was caught in her spell the way she was in mine, and my weakness may have ruined everything. As the alpha in line to take over for the woman who saved an entire werebear kingdom, Audrey’s about to be tested in ways only the strongest can survive. To do so she’s going to need me by her side, but she has to earn my heart in a contest she has no idea she’s entered. One I can’t lose.

  1

  Audrey

  A floorboard in my bedroom creaks, and I open my eyes quickly as panic floods my veins and my body tenses on high alert. It only takes the brightness of the full moon shining through the window to remind me what I did last night. And the sexist naked man I've ever seen reminds me of who I did as I stare at him walking toward my bathroom. My fear subsides as the memory of his deep laugh and strong arms helps me recall that I definitely invited him here. Who knew a full-moon beach party thrown by a bunch of wannabe witches could actually work some magic? Meeting tall, dark, and sexy and bringing him home with me is the best thing that's happened to me all year.

  The sheets I'm tangled in are infused with our combined musk, and the fragrance makes me flash to some of the best sex I've ever had. I was drawn to him by his scent first. I know that sounds weird, but as a werebear I have acute senses, and my nose provides knowledge humans can only imagine. Although I think my nose was confused, because when I first caught my sleepover guest's musk, I was sure he was a werebear too. One my bear wanted, even though I'd have refused to let her have him. But before I could walk away, he caught my eye. So I prepared myself for the weird dance two werebears do in a group of humans who don't know we exist, and I steeled myself to turn him down, since I suspected he felt our attraction too. But as he approached me I realized I was wrong. The telltale musk of bear disappeared, and his aroma became all human male and one-hundred percent more attractive to me.

  I let out a small moan as my insides tremble with the memory of what the unusually large man did to me. I don't have an ounce of shame over hooking up with this stranger, but hell if I can remember his name. Which is strange, because another werebear trait is that it takes a lot of alcohol to make us forget what happened, and I didn’t drink that much. Although it’s possible he never told me. I was on a mission.

  I've been in Venice Beach, California, for almost a year now, and my days of pretending to be human and carefree are running out. I'm the daughter of not one, but two, alphas. Along with one of my triplet brothers, I'm next in line to be the alpha of a clan, and I've spent a good portion of my life training to be a leader. It's exhausting. Ever since my alpha traits showed themselves around age twelve, my parents have reminded me that my actions will be remembered for a lifetime. The pressure to be good at everything and never make stupid mistakes is enormous, and one day I snapped. I packed up my nearly vintage Hummer and informed my mother I was going to California, where she grew up, to visit my roots.

  At first my dad was furious, but after the initial shock, Mom saw the wisdom of my plan and calmed him down. She told him that I needed to sow my wild oats someplace where I wasn't under the scrutiny of an entire clan. She even arranged a job for me, working in a bar for her old friend Ruby.

  I stretch my arms over my head as I wonder what it would be like to have a real relationship with the first man I've met who matches my sexual appetite. I suppose I could stay here for a while longer, since I probably won't have to be alpha for two more decades, but I promised my father I'd return after a year, which is in a few short weeks. You do not disobey an alpha, even if you are their child, unless you're prepared for serious consequences.

  The toilet flushes, and the pipes bang with the flow of water as my handsome stranger walks back toward my bed. "Sorry," he says with a deep tone that makes me want to purr like a cat for his attention. "I didn't mean to wake you."

  "It's okay. I'm a light sleeper."

  He stops moving and rakes his hand through his thick mane of hair. "Should I go?"

  This is when I should tell him yes. Getting involved with a man here is a bad idea and something I've managed to avoid easily. So far. But something about this guy makes me want to ignore good sense. A tingle of desire burns low in my belly, but my attraction to him feels more than physical. It’s bone-deep… as though I've been searching for this man all my life. I chuckle at myself, because if I didn't know better, I'd swear he was my true mate. Only that doesn't happen with humans and werebear. Unless…

  "Audrey?"

  He knows my name. But why don't I know his? I smile and remember I can always call him babe—my go-to nickname for situations like this. And what harm can it do to spend a few more hours in the arms of someone who delivers mind-blowing orgasms? I pat the mattress. "Not yet."

  He lowers himself to the bed slowly and takes my face in his hands to kiss me. I let out a moan of satisfaction as I'm filled with the sensation of fitting perfectly with this human. The thought he might be part werebear flashes through my mind again. My mother proved that a human with werebear genes could be changed into a shifter twenty-five years ago, and the deeper my kiss becomes with this guy, the more tempting it is to bite him and find out.

  The man grabs my bottom, and he tugs me against his body as if he wants to touch as much of me as he can. I comply easily as our legs tangle together, and the pressure of his thigh against my sex makes me want to ride him. My bear is pawing at me with her pleasure. He reaches between my legs and slides two fingers into me. I arch up with desire, and my bear screams at me with a need to claim this man. Mine. The familiar pressure of my bear teeth rushing to the surface to reveal themselves comes over me. The guy hooks his finger just right, and my orgasm is threatening to explode as the prickle of fur trying to escape from my skin warns me that I’m almost to the point of no return. Oh, god! The moment before I’m about to come and shift, I force myself to break away before I really do bite someone without their consent.

  I pull in a deep breath as if I've broken the water’s surface after a deep dive.

  "It's okay, Audrey. I feel it too." He wiggles his fingers inside of me as if to prove it.

  I chuckle, figuring he must have wat
ched enough rom-coms to know all the right lines. I squirm under him. "Really? What exactly do you feel?"

  He strokes me as moonlight twinkles in his eyes. "As if I've finally found the piece of me I was missing."

  I'd call him on it if my eyes weren’t trying to roll back in my head as a result of the work of his magic hands. "Um-hmm." My phone buzzes on my nightstand with a call, and the screen glows in my peripheral vision.

  The guy glances at it and chuckles. "Alpha one to Alpha two?"

  "My brother's idea of a joke. Ignore it."

  He kisses my neck, and my phone beeps with a voicemail as he begins to make his way down my body, pausing at my breast. I mewl like a cat when he tweaks my nipple with his teeth, and I groan when my phone buzzes again. "Jesus, that's annoying." I reach over and silence the noise.

  The guy pumps his eyebrows at me. "Persistence is a good thing." Then he moves his mouth down my chest to my stomach, fluttering kisses along the way.

  "So good." I sigh and focus on how he's moving even lower. My phone buzzes again.

  "I think you'd better answer that," the man says as he sits up.

  I let out an annoyed sigh because I know he's right. I tense up with worry that something bad has happened. My brother Everett is not the type to keep calling this way, and I grab my cell to answer. "This better be good, because I have company."

  "Three is missing," says my brother in his stern alpha voice.

  Three is our nickname for our triplet brother, Connell. "What?" I bolt up out of my bed, and the wood floor is cold on my feet as I begin to pace and struggle to keep my bear under control.

  "When? Oh my god, Mom and Dad must be frantic."

  "They are, and you should be here."

  "Of course. I'll be there as soon as I can." I click my phone off. "Shit." I look at the guy whose name I'll probably never know. "You need to leave. I need to leave."

  The man grabs his jeans and steps into them. "Where are you going?"

  "Orono, Maine. Bangor if I can get a flight there."

  "Get in the shower and I'll research flights," he says. I tilt my head at him as I wonder why he'd care. He doesn't even know why I'm leaving. "Go!"

  I snap to attention and move. My shower doesn't last more than five minutes, but when I step out, the guy hands me my towel and a sealable plastic bag. I frown, and he says, "For toiletries. Travel size only. You're taking a carry-on." He turns away from me to walk toward the bed where I can see my suitcase wide open with clothing in it. I toss the plastic bag on the counter by the sink because I’m sure my sisters will have anything I need. Yoga pants, underwear, a t-shirt, and hoodie are set out for me.

  "There's a flight leaving in less than two hours," he says as I yank a comb through my hair and turn back to watch in amazement. Hangers rattle on the bar of my closet as he riffles through my dresses and grabs two. "Traffic will be light, but we need to leave in the next ten minutes." He lifts up two pairs of shoes, and after a moment’s consideration, he throws the more conservative black heels in my bag.

  I should be angry this guy is taking charge. I'm destined to be an alpha, after all, but something about the way he's organizing me, like he's the perfect assistant, just feels right. He’ll likely do a better job than I would anyway, considering the way my mind is whirling with the possibilities of my brother being locked in a cage in some dark cave somewhere. I turn away from him to finish getting ready.

  Ten minutes later, we're climbing into the guy's truck with two travel mugs of coffee he seemed to magically produce and a bag he assures me has everything I'm going to need. Somehow, I believe him. As we drive to the airport, I call my boss, Ruby, to leave her a message saying I've gone home for a family emergency. I leave a voicemail for Trina, my coworker and friend, begging her to cover my dinner shift and to get my mail while I'm gone. I'm dying to call Everett back and pump him for more details, but that will have to wait for when I'm not around anyone who might overhear.

  I stare out the window as dawn paints the highway in shades of pink and gray. I'd be amazed at the guy’s driving ability as he weaves us in and out of cars while going faster than he should, but my heart feels as if it's in a vice that keeps turning tighter. I have to fight to keep from imagining the horrors my brother might be experiencing right now. Or the idea he might be dead. But I don't have to guess about who is responsible for this. For all my life, the monster under the bed has been a group called the Eradicators who would like to obliterate werebear into extinction. Twenty or so years ago, they suffered a great loss when they came after the werebear in my kingdom. And while we've had minor scuffles with them over the years, it's been drilled into my head that they'd come back one day for vengeance, smarter and better than they were when they last attacked years ago.

  A plane roars overhead as it takes off, and the man who has managed to become more than a hookup for me pulls up to the curb for departures. My stomach rolls because I don't think I'll be coming back. I turn to the guy, surprised by the urge to make us more than a one-night stand. "Thank you. I—" What, Audrey? I'm never going to call this guy, nor will I ever see him again, so it makes no sense to give him false hope. Sadness lands on my shoulders like a lead blanket. I shake my head and turn to open the door.

  “Wait,” says the guy. When I face him again, he stares intently into my eyes and shakes his head a little before grabbing my face to crush me with a kiss. One that takes my breath away and reaches deep inside of me, making me want him to never let go. He releases me, and it takes me a moment before I fumble for the door handle in a daze.

  After I climb out, I lean back down to say, "I'll never forget your kindness. If only we'd met sooner. Goodbye."

  He smiles. "It’s goodbye for now. You'll see me again, Audrey Le Roux. Safe travels."

  I can't help but grin back. He's full of sappy lines, that one. And damn if they don't work. The door slams when I push it, but I don’t move as I watch him pull away. I lift my fingers to my lips to find they’re swollen and hot. I wonder how long it will take to return to normal or if I ever will. Because for a split second, I don’t want to leave.

  A van pulls into the guy’s spot by the curb, and when a passenger opens the door, it practically hits me, breaking me out of my daze. I move quickly to catch my flight. It's not until I get into the line for security that it hits me I never tell one-night stands my last name. Perhaps the guy saw a piece of my mail, but my heart skips a beat just the same. And then ice fills my veins. I slap my bag down on the conveyor belt as determination to find my brother Connell takes over, and a low rumble that's all alpha comes from my chest. I give the TSA agent a stare that makes her shiver as I walk through the scanner gate toward home.

  2

  Josie

  My arms are steady as I flex my muscles to brace against the kickback of a .357 magnum, and I fire a round of six shots. I know they all hit the center of the target without checking because I don't miss. Haven't missed a still target in over two years, and it's rare I miss a moving one either. But I suppose that's what happens when you train to shoot two hours a day, seven days a week, for almost three years.

  The barrel of my gun clicks as I open it and fill it with fresh bullets. I chuckle to myself as I think about the irony of my situation. Three years ago, I was arrested for a murder I didn't commit. I'd never held a gun in my life, yet I was convicted of killing a cop with a pistol. And the thing is I'm sure the Eradicators, the very people who are training me, set me up to take that fall. To own me. I squint at the target to take aim for my next round. And own me, they do. They broke me out of prison and gave me a new identity. They could toss me right back, and who knows what they’d add to the list of my crimes in the process?

  Even if I could escape the Eradicators, I have another problem. I learned I'm half werebear, the very creature they're teaching me to wipe out completely. If the general population caught wind of what I am, they'd either want to kill me or study me for science. Neither is an option I'd like to consider.
r />   At the moment my bear is dormant, and the only way to activate her is to be bitten by another werebear, a fact the Eradicators plan to use to their advantage. While the Eradicators find werebear disgusting, I think they're fascinating. Not that I'm going to tell anyone, though. I still hate them enough to want them dead too, but they possess amazing traits. They're shape-shifters who can exist in human or bear form. As humans they're stronger with more acute senses than regular people, and as bear they have the cognitive ability of a human. This makes them very powerful, and if their numbers were greater, they'd pose a great danger to humans, especially since they're ruled by a barbaric set of clan laws and a strong primal instinct. Or so I'm told.

  I adjust my headphones, and a drop of sweat tickles my skin before it drips off my nose. It took a while for me to adjust to my new life. Before I was arrested, I was a typical college student whose greatest worries were exams and how to sneak into bars while I was underage. The vision of my mother collapsing in the courtroom from her despair when they read my sentence is one that will stay with me for life, especially since she died of an aneurysm just days later. Logic tells me it wasn't because of what happened to me, and I’ve since learned from the Eradicators that the alpha of a werebear clan will kill humans who have offspring with one of their members. My heart holds on to the idea that werebear are responsible for my mother's death.

  I didn't handle being wrongfully convicted well, and it's a wonder I didn't get more than a few beatings while I was in jail. I lift my gun with one hand and shoot another quick round as if I can blast my bad memories away. The day Robyn, one of the Eradicator leaders, approached me with an offer to train as a special ops assassin, I was recovering from broken ribs and a collapsed lung. I was sure I didn't have the skills she thought I did, but I figured whatever she had in mind was better than waiting for the beating that was finally going to kill me.