ROMANCE: Billionaire Bear Mate (Paranormal Alpha WereBear Shifter Mail Order Bride Romance) (Paranormal Romance, Bear Shifter Romance, Werebear Shapeshifter) Read online

  My bear growled as the tiger leapt towards me, I was experienced now and I dodged her jump with ease. Just because I was bigger than her it didn’t mean that I was slower as well. She growled in annoyance as I danced around her, moving around her attacks with an ease unbefitting of my large black bear. I angled my moves, slowly getting closer and closer to her, just where I wanted to be. But no, it wasn’t going to be that easy, not by a mile. Out of nowhere she leaped, catching my shoulder and pulling me down to the floor. She stood above, her teeth bared in my face and all I could do was smile back at her, the goofiest bear smile I could muster.

  Another growl passed through her lips, fierce enough to make the hairs on my body stand on end but not enough to wipe the beaming smile off my face. She had checked the mystery box with the biggest of ticks but the normal box had definitely been left long forgotten. But did I really want normal? Who settles for normal? Normal was just an excuse to fit into a routine that nobody really wanted. Taking my chance I flipped her body over and pinned her tiger beneath my paws. There was no escape now, no way to break free from my ironclad grasp. Before my eyes the beautiful orange shade of her fur disappeared and in its place was the red I had grown to like.

  “You can’t challenge a bear,” I said as I let my fur slowly return skin and my human features take its place. She turned her head away from me, clearly angry that she couldn’t over-power me.

  “You’re crazy, you know that right?” I questioned, laughing a little as the words came out. She turned to me now, her face every bit that of a tigers as her eyes, so perfectly blue bore into mine in a way that only hers ever could.

  “And you’re a beast,” she spat back, clearly failing to find anything better to say. I couldn’t help but to burst into laughter now, she was fiery, that was for sure.

  “A tiger huh? When exactly was I going to find out what I had gotten myself into?” I asked curiously, shaking my head in disbelief.

  “I thought long and hard and I figured about now would be a good idea,” she said, meeting my smile with a teasing grin.

  “And why not before? Our little dinner meeting perhaps?” I asked sarcastically, trying to contain the laughter that was trying to break free again.

  “Ah, about that, I figured it would be better if I stayed quiet,” she said teasingly, turning her head away from me.

  Releasing my grip on Jasmine slightly I used my hand to cup her sun-kissed cheek and turn it gently back to me. Her eyes widened slightly as I brought them to meet my own, inside them burned all the ferocity that remained from her tiger, it was more than just and echo. I didn’t hesitate to capture her lips with my own, claiming them for myself. She stilled for a second before deepening the kiss pushing all of her pent up frustration into my lips. Her lips tasted every bit as sweet as I had imaged them too, so much so that the feeling overwhelmed me.

  The animal instinct that I had inside of me took over and I pushed down roughly against her mouth, claiming every bit of the uniquely exquisite taste for myself. My hands went to her arms; my fingers trailed up her bare bronze skin and slowly lifted them above her head. So soft, so delicate other than her fiery hair her body showed no hint of what lay so dangerously beneath. I twisted her hands together and placed them above her wild mass of red hair. She moaned against my rough lips as I let my finger trail back down her skin, feeling every part of it that I could.

  “Crazy,” I muttered as I finally pulled away from her mouth, I was breathless but it was far too soon. I missed the feeling of her immediately, the electric sensation that her lips on my own caused.

  “Absolutely beautifully crazy,” I whispered as I lifted her chin gently, giving me full access to her neck. I pressed a kiss down on the exposed skin and then another and another, I couldn’t help myself. As Jasmine squirmed beneath me with each sensual press of my lips I knew that the familiar tight sensation in my body was returning.

  I was aroused, aroused beyond belief as the beautiful perfect naked body of my wife shifted beneath me. Everything about her sent my blood racing, just the slight breaths that made her chest rise and fall made my body heat up. I cupped her breasts now feeling them fill my palms completely, unable to show even the slightest bit of restraint. She groaned loudly as I cupped her, leaning up to meet me eyes, showing me the lust that filled her own. I let the growl fall freely from my lips as she claimed them, showing me what she wanted as she explored my mouth, teasingly, temptingly.

  Jasmine’s sweet scent filled me; it reminded me of the forest and of what I truly was. I pulled away from her lips, a regrettable move that could not be helped. It only lasted a second; one tortuous second, before I pulled her on top of me, rested her curvy body on top of my own toned chest. My hands went instantly to her sides, to her perfect curves and I found myself tracing them, feeling each beautiful groove.

  Her fingers twisted into my hair as she looked down at me, bringing her lips closer but just far enough that I couldn’t reach up and meet them. My body shuddered as she licked them temptingly; removing a hand from my tangled mass of blonde she placed it lustfully on my side. Her touch, so sensual and passionate made me freeze. She knew what I wanted and I could feel the desire pulsing through her body, so ready and so wanting. I moved my hips quickly and watched her mouth drop open, her eyes widen and a moan that was so perfect fall gracefully from her ruby red lips.

  ……

  “Where do we go from here?” Jasmine questioned as morning began to break over the dense jungle. I watched the sun slowly rise from behind the canopy of trees, a prefect view from the house, our house. I could definitely learn to love this place, the beauty only had one earthly rival and my hands were snaked around her bare waist.

  “What do you mean my crazy crazy wife?” I said chuckling slightly as I watched her eyebrows rise in a questioning look.

  “Maybe you should try to tame me then,” she said in her unique teasing voice, one that caused goose-bumps to form on my skin.

  “Whoever heard of a person trying to tame a tigress?” I said softly as I watched her eyes swirl with the blue I already loved.

  “Then perhaps you would have better luck trying to out run me?” she said, catching me off guard. Her body shifted away from my own and she was gone, just a flash of orange that disappeared into the jungle.

  “You definitely need the head start my dear,” I shouted after my wife. Normal was overrated anyway.

  FREE BONUS BOOK!

  DIVORCING

  MY ALPHA

  WOLF

  By Sicily Duval

  Madison looked at herself in the mirror while she pulled the pins out of her hair, letting her dark brown hair fall out of the French roll she wore to the office.

  Behind her Blake was undressing systematically the way he did everything; undo the tie, hang it up, undo the buttons from the top down, shirt in the hamper. She watched him in the mirror. His body was still taut and upright like it had been thirty years ago. He still had that wild rugged look she loved about him. Fierce. Animalistic.

  When last had she seen him change? His wolf had been a thing of mystery when she’d first found out, shortly after they’d started dating. It had been a magnificent creature, large and ferocious, a force to be reckoned with. Not a reason for her to leave him, instead a reason for her to stay. He’d been her version of coloring outside the lines in a world where she’d had to be perfect.

  As the years had gone by he’d taken care of himself so he didn’t shift around the kids. He had business trips around full moon. He started eating his meat rare, not raw. He’d even allowed the kids to have a dog, even though he growled at the poor animal every time the kids were at school.

  There was a time when the sight of his bare chest would make her go crazy, and she would interrupt his routine to climb all over him. They would tumble in bed and he wouldn’t get his shirt in the hamper until morning.

  Now when she undressed he barely looked at her, and when she looked at him he looked down to see if there was a stain on his
shirt. She sighed.

  “I have to work late tomorrow,” she said, still looking at him in the mirror. He took off his watch and put it on the nightstand, face towards the bed.

  “That’s fine,” he answered. He was on auto-pilot.

  “Do you want me to get something ready for you so you don’t have to worry about cooking? I don’t think I’ll be too late if you want to wait for me…

  “I’ll have a big lunch at work and have a sandwich. I might get out a bit, if you’re going to be late. I need to stretch my legs.” It was close to full moon. Blake changed now and then when it wasn’t the pull of the moon that lured out his wolf, just to get it out of his system. He was very particular about not changing around the family.

  She pursed her lips into a thin line and turned her eyes back to her own face. He used to wait for her. There’d been days in the beginning that they’d only eaten at eleven at night because they’d waited for each other.

  Then kids came and routine had been important, but they were both in Massachusetts now, Emma studying at Harvard and Lash working at Witmark & Lewis while he finished his MBA part time. The empty spaces were filled with the realization that Blake and Madison had just grown apart.

  They’d both taken so much out of their day to take care of the kids, they’d forgotten to make time for each other. And now that there was so much time available again it was jam-packed with awkward silences.

  But it wasn’t just that, was it? It was the fact that he had stayed strong. His wolf pulled him through. And Madison hadn’t been able to do that. She’d been the one that had gotten sick so often. And when he’d had to take care of the kids because she couldn’t, she was sure he’d resented it.

  They climbed into bed. Blake read a copy of Men’s Health while she flipped through whatever women’s magazine she found interesting. And exactly thirty minutes later they switched off their bedside lamps.

  Blake was an animal of routine, and the consistency had always worked for her.

  “Good night, honey,” she said in the dark.

  “Night dear.”

  “I love you.”

  “I love you too.” He turned his back to her, and he was asleep within seconds. She lay away, staring at the ceiling in the dark, wondering when those words had lost their meaning and become a force of habit.

  On Tuesday she stepped out of the office at four o’clock, an hour before she usually knocked off, and walked to her car. She drove the few blocks to the Medical Park, and stopped in the parking space reserved for the patients of Dr. Kinsey. The secretary greeted her and looked up her medical card.

  Madison sat down in the queue. There were five people ahead of her. It was good she’d told Blake she would be late. Doctor appointments were always so unpredictable.

  She pulled out her cell phone and found his number on her contacts list. Her finger hovered over the ‘talk’ button, but instead of dialing she closed her contacts list and opened up a text message instead.

  Remember I’ll be home late. Fresh bread in the bread box and sliced ham in the fridge. Love you.

  An hour and a half dragged by. Madison spent the time reading outdated magazines and watching the toddler in the corner construct a tower. She’d loved them at that age. It seemed so quickly the time had just disappeared, and now she was a middle-aged woman instead of a young mother, waiting for a doctor to tell her what the rest of her life would look like.

  Finally it was her turn, and she stepped into the office. Dr. Kinsey smiled at her. The woman was young, with blond hair in a professional ponytail and a smile that reassured patients.

  “Madison, it’s great to see you again,” she said. “I know I’m not supposed to say that, because usually when I see people again it means something is wrong, but you’re one of my favorites.” She smiled and flipped open the file.

  Madison smiled and sat down. Dr. Kinsey was friendly. Better than the old man they’d been visiting for so long.

  “Ah, yes,” Dr. Kinsey said and stood up to walk to her cabinet. “The tests have come back.” She walked to the desk with a piece of paper and sat down.

  “The good news is it’s not cancer or anything like that. Your reproductive system is fine and your irregularities aren’t something we can’t fix.”

  Madison felt relief wash over her. Her monthly cycles had gotten worse, and with cervical cancer in her bloodline she’d feared the worst. She was frustrated that Dr. Kinsey had started with the good news, though. That meant that it could still be pretty bad.

  “What’s the bad news?”

  “You have von Willebrand’s disease.”

  “What’s that?” Madison asked. It sounded serious and like it was a joke all at the same time. Diseases usually had horrible names that spelled out how terribly they were.

  “Your blood has what they call the von Willebrand factor that allows it to clot so your body doesn’t bleed out when you have an injury or during surgery. If you lack the von Willebrand factor, you risk mild to moderate bleeding, in your case. You have type two.”

  “How did I get it?” she asked.

  Dr. Kinsey flipped through Madison’s file again. “Usually it’s passed down through genetics, but your family doesn’t seem to have any in the family history. It’s possible to acquire it through some diseases or medication.”

  “So I got this from taking medicine when I was sick with something else?”

  “It’s possible, yes.”

  Madison nodded slowly, trying to take in the information, but it didn’t make sense to her. It didn’t sound like it was terrible dangerous. How many times did she bleed, after all?

  “What do we do now?” she asked.

  “Well, as long as you stay away from blood thinners and medicines like Ibuprofen you should be fine. I’m going to prescribe you a birth control pill that will keep you regular. Other than that you should be fine. I’ll give you a list of what to avoid.”

  The consultation finished and Madison got in her car. Pierre, South Dakota wasn’t a large city. It was small by most standards, and the roads were all but busy this time of the day. Still, Madison took her time going home. She supposed she had to tell Blake. It was something he should know, after all, even if it seemed a little pointless because it didn’t really change anything.

  She pulled into the drive way and walked in through the front door. The lounge lights were off, the dusk outside making it virtually dark inside.

  When Madison flipped on the light, Blake sat on the arm chair.

  “Are you okay?” she asked. “You’re sitting all alone in the dark.”

  “I know,” he said. She put her handbag down and sat down opposite him.

  “I wanted to talk to you,” she said. Now was as good a time as any.

  “I wanted to talk to you, too, actually,” he said, putting his elbows on his knees and cupping his hands around his mouth.

  “I went to the—“ Madison started but Blake cut her off.

  “Are you happy?”

  Madison blinked. “What?”

  “I asked if you’re happy. Do you get what you need out of life?”

  “Well, that’s a strange question—“

  “It feels to me like we’re just going through the motions. Nothing we’re doing is for us, it was all for the kids, and now there’s nothing left of the lives we started in the first place.”

  “What are you talking about? What happened?”

  Blake shook his head and leaned back in the armchair. Sitting like that, all sunken in on himself, she realized how old he’d really become.

  “When last did you do something for you? Something that you wanted to do, just because?’

  Madison tried, but she couldn’t find anything that she’d done, not in the last ten years, at least.

  “I don’t know,” she said softly. Where was this going?

  “Sometimes I feel like neither sides of the double life I’m leading is worth it anymore. Our marriage, the kids… all of that has become so stale.”
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  Madison looked at him sharply but it didn’t look like he was worried about offending her.

  “And the other side of me, the wolf…” Blake never discussed his wolf. “I’m not part of a pack, and this lone wolf nonsense is starting to get to me.” He took a deep breath. “I think we should get a divorce.”

  Time froze. It was like something had sucked all the air out of the room, and the sudden silence was so heavy Madison could almost hear it.

  “What?” she asked, her voice sounding impossibly small.

  Blake looked at her with an expression impossible to read.

  “You’re not happy, Madison. I can see you’re not. And my life is unfulfilled. I have nothing that I can proudly state: I did that.”

  “But Emma and Lash—“

  “Besides them.”

  Madison shook her head, because he was right. Blake stood up and walked out of the room. Madison stayed behind alone on the couch. She’d heard of relationships that ended once the kids were out of the house. She’d always pitied those women. And now she was one of them.

  Why then, didn’t she feel heartbroken? Sad? Rejected? She waited for the shock to come, for the emotions to hit her full on. A relationship ending, after all, had to hurt.

  But she was acutely aware of the empty void inside her where emotions should have been. The lack of unhappiness about it. The fact that maybe Blake was right, because if she felt this way about an announcement like that, it might have been time to end it.

  In bed that night she turned to him.

  “We should tell the kids,” she said. He closed his magazine and laid it down on his lap.

  “I’ll phone in the morning.”

  Madison shook her head. “I don’t think we can do this one over the phone, honey.” Could she still call him that? “We need to go see them.”

  “You hate flying,” Blake pointed out. Madison was terrified of flying. Stepping in a plane led to an immediate panic attack. It just couldn’t happen.