Read Online Bear King's Curves: A BBW Werebear Shifter Romance by A.T. Mitchell - Free Book Online
Authors: A.T. Mitchell
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Not for hours.
Everything I did was to save you, Lyla.”
“ You abandoned me.”
I jerked the wheel, almost tearing the car over to the
dark curb. My foot tapped the accelerator, quickening our journey
into the dark night.
No. No matter how heated this gets, I have to keep
going. Gotta put more miles between us and them.
“ Look,” I said, pausing to collect my words.
“I don't know what the hell happened between you and bear
shifters in the past. If I knew there was a single chance Branson and
his goons would've hurt you before I could get to you, I would've
torn him down then and there. I would've given everything –
everything! – to keep you safe. And I still will. Trust me.”
“ Trust? You broke my trust the first night we
spent together! The first time we kissed, I got tied up...” She
swallowed hard, as if her mouth were filled with something bitter.
“ And I saved your life over this damned ball.
Twice.”
I stared at her, casting one glance back at the open
road. The truth had given her serious pause.
“ I just...this whole fucking thing is crazy! I
never, ever thought I'd end up with a bear – on the run no
less...” Lyla shook her head.
I had to force myself to focus on driving again, away
from the long hair flowing around her supple breasts. Gods, to throw
myself on her again, wrapping each hand around her softness.
“ Why? Tell me what happened. We're not monsters,
Lyla.”
Not all of us, I
thought, a vision of the one eyed Elder smiling sardonically in my
mind.
“ My father,” she began, looking out the side
window. “He was killed by a bear.”
Surprise. My eyebrows stretched up toward my forehead.
Well, that explained a hell of a lot.
“ Around Klamath? Our Clan?”
She nodded. “Yeah.
He was a miner. Went north for some little startup and ended up
around Klamath Falls in the mid-eighties. Everything went well the
next ten years, until he got in a fight. Happened at a poker game, my
mother said, a fight with another man. Or what he took for another man.”
My heart began to pound. Something about this story was
awfully familiar. I remembered a time in my teen years when Branson
and a couple other guys were big on gambling with humans.
“ He shifted,” Lyla continued. “His
teeth were in my Dad's neck before anybody could tear the bear off.
Then these fucking government goons had the nerve to cover up the
whole thing. Told my mother to keep it under her hat, or else it
would cause a lot of bad blood between the local people and the
reservation – as if you're some kind of harmless Indian tribe!”
I glanced down. Her fists were clenched, pressed deep
into her plush hips, shaking slightly as fury rolled through her.
Dead fathers. One more thing in common, I thought.
“ I've never told anybody that before. Never
expected the first person outside our family to know it would be one
of your kind...”
“ It's okay, Lyla.” Slowly, I reached for her
hand, wondering if she'd shrink away.
She didn't. Her shallow, soft sobs filled the car as I
held her hand. Both of us stared at the dark road flanked by rocky
forest, onward to Idaho.
“ My clan's been on a warpath for decades. It was
only forty or fifty years when they finally got a treaty locked up
with the government. Money was never been easy to come by. The Elders
always approved a bunch of stupid schemes with the human world, but
Branson's were always the worst...”
“ Can I ask you something, Nick?” She locked
eyes on me, big and round and sad.
I nodded. Wouldn't dream of saying no to that look.
“ Do you know who killed him?”
I shook my head. I didn't know. And if I did, would I
have turned him over, betraying another one of my people for a crime
that happened so long ago?
No easy answers to that.
“ No. I was just becoming a man at the time. I
remember hearing something about a fight in a bar, some trouble with
the government...the Elders are the only source of information we've
got. They share a
Everything I did was to save you, Lyla.”
“ You abandoned me.”
I jerked the wheel, almost tearing the car over to the
dark curb. My foot tapped the accelerator, quickening our journey
into the dark night.
No. No matter how heated this gets, I have to keep
going. Gotta put more miles between us and them.
“ Look,” I said, pausing to collect my words.
“I don't know what the hell happened between you and bear
shifters in the past. If I knew there was a single chance Branson and
his goons would've hurt you before I could get to you, I would've
torn him down then and there. I would've given everything –
everything! – to keep you safe. And I still will. Trust me.”
“ Trust? You broke my trust the first night we
spent together! The first time we kissed, I got tied up...” She
swallowed hard, as if her mouth were filled with something bitter.
“ And I saved your life over this damned ball.
Twice.”
I stared at her, casting one glance back at the open
road. The truth had given her serious pause.
“ I just...this whole fucking thing is crazy! I
never, ever thought I'd end up with a bear – on the run no
less...” Lyla shook her head.
I had to force myself to focus on driving again, away
from the long hair flowing around her supple breasts. Gods, to throw
myself on her again, wrapping each hand around her softness.
“ Why? Tell me what happened. We're not monsters,
Lyla.”
Not all of us, I
thought, a vision of the one eyed Elder smiling sardonically in my
mind.
“ My father,” she began, looking out the side
window. “He was killed by a bear.”
Surprise. My eyebrows stretched up toward my forehead.
Well, that explained a hell of a lot.
“ Around Klamath? Our Clan?”
She nodded. “Yeah.
He was a miner. Went north for some little startup and ended up
around Klamath Falls in the mid-eighties. Everything went well the
next ten years, until he got in a fight. Happened at a poker game, my
mother said, a fight with another man. Or what he took for another man.”
My heart began to pound. Something about this story was
awfully familiar. I remembered a time in my teen years when Branson
and a couple other guys were big on gambling with humans.
“ He shifted,” Lyla continued. “His
teeth were in my Dad's neck before anybody could tear the bear off.
Then these fucking government goons had the nerve to cover up the
whole thing. Told my mother to keep it under her hat, or else it
would cause a lot of bad blood between the local people and the
reservation – as if you're some kind of harmless Indian tribe!”
I glanced down. Her fists were clenched, pressed deep
into her plush hips, shaking slightly as fury rolled through her.
Dead fathers. One more thing in common, I thought.
“ I've never told anybody that before. Never
expected the first person outside our family to know it would be one
of your kind...”
“ It's okay, Lyla.” Slowly, I reached for her
hand, wondering if she'd shrink away.
She didn't. Her shallow, soft sobs filled the car as I
held her hand. Both of us stared at the dark road flanked by rocky
forest, onward to Idaho.
“ My clan's been on a warpath for decades. It was
only forty or fifty years when they finally got a treaty locked up
with the government. Money was never been easy to come by. The Elders
always approved a bunch of stupid schemes with the human world, but
Branson's were always the worst...”
“ Can I ask you something, Nick?” She locked
eyes on me, big and round and sad.
I nodded. Wouldn't dream of saying no to that look.
“ Do you know who killed him?”
I shook my head. I didn't know. And if I did, would I
have turned him over, betraying another one of my people for a crime
that happened so long ago?
No easy answers to that.
“ No. I was just becoming a man at the time. I
remember hearing something about a fight in a bar, some trouble with
the government...the Elders are the only source of information we've
got. They share a
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