Read Online Bear My Love: BBW BWWM Paranormal Shapeshifter Werebear Mail-Order Bride Romance (Shifter Grove Brides Book 4) by Anya Nowlan - Free Book Online
Authors: Anya Nowlan
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Wolves and grizzlies don’t mix well, especially when confined to small spaces like Bitterroot.
But I was young and in love and thought that nothing mattered but her and I. So we snuck around and professed that we’d be together forever and all that good stuff. She had two brothers around my age, and a few younger ones as well, and her family was next in line to head the pack. I was the cousin of my clan’s Alpha. Not a power position, but I was going to make a decent Lieutenant one day. I should have seen it coming before I did, but I didn’t…”
A strangled silence fell between them for a few seconds, until Keesha squeezed his hand again. Those knots that had so easily formed in the pit of her stomach were undoing themselves, letting her breathe a little again. These weren’t the words of a maniac. He could barely spit the sentences out without choking on them. Whatever had happened, Keesha had a feeling it wasn’t all on him.
“Seen what coming?”
“She didn’t want me. She wanted my Alpha – dead. One night, when we’d been together for a while, she convinced me to sneak her into our clan lands. My house was just next to Ryder’s, my Alpha’s. I didn’t know it then, but her brothers followed us, taking the secret path that would get us past most of the lookouts and that only I knew. There hadn’t been any serious trouble between us and the wolves for years, but wolves in packs are treacherous creatures and we didn’t trust them. At least, the smarter ones didn’t.”
There was that bitterness again, that self-blame in his voice that made Keesha’s heart break for him.
“Anyway, I was just taking her into my house – I was living alone – when her brothers came up behind me and knocked me out with something. When I came to a few minutes later, I heard a struggle in the other house. I didn’t see anything but red. I understood what was going on and by the time I was back on my feet, I was seething with rage. Any sort of calm and rational thinking I might have once possessed floated away, replaced by this bleeding red fog. There she was, Adriana, my girlfriend, the love of my then-life, hanging onto my Alpha’s throat while her two brothers were trying to tear his stomach open.
I shifted so fast I don’t think I’ve ever moved quite as quickly. I remember grabbing her by the scruff of her traitorous little neck and slamming her into the wall. Ryder almost snapped the neck of one of the brothers, Argo. I grabbed the other one, Adam. I don’t think I realized I was squeezing down so hard until I heard his skull crack and saw the life go out of him.”
Battle fell quiet after that, the spark dimming in his eyes. Keesha was shaking like a leaf, partly out of anger towards the wolves and partly because she could imagine so clearly what Battle had been going through since that night. He’d been just a kid, betrayed by the girl he thought he loved, watching his Alpha be put in mortal danger.
“Adriana and Argo crashed through a window and got out of there before we could catch them. Fucking wolves. They’re always faster than we are. Usually, clan and pack issues are settled amongst shifters, but Adriana pushed until she got charges pressed against me. It looked like just another brawl gone bad. They took me away three days later and threw me in jail. I pleaded out and got a fifteen-year sentence. I got out in nine. Good behavior.”
He smiled wryly at that, shrugging his shoulders. All the things she knew and didn’t know about him were slowly coming together. Why he rarely talked about the past and preferred the future instead. Why he’d been moving around the whole time they’d been talking over SassyDate. It wasn’t because he was looking for a job. It was because he didn’t feel at home anywhere.
“Why haven’t you gone back home?” Keesha asked after a long silence, turning her body towards him.
Battle shook his head, smirking dryly. He looked so much older like that. She
But I was young and in love and thought that nothing mattered but her and I. So we snuck around and professed that we’d be together forever and all that good stuff. She had two brothers around my age, and a few younger ones as well, and her family was next in line to head the pack. I was the cousin of my clan’s Alpha. Not a power position, but I was going to make a decent Lieutenant one day. I should have seen it coming before I did, but I didn’t…”
A strangled silence fell between them for a few seconds, until Keesha squeezed his hand again. Those knots that had so easily formed in the pit of her stomach were undoing themselves, letting her breathe a little again. These weren’t the words of a maniac. He could barely spit the sentences out without choking on them. Whatever had happened, Keesha had a feeling it wasn’t all on him.
“Seen what coming?”
“She didn’t want me. She wanted my Alpha – dead. One night, when we’d been together for a while, she convinced me to sneak her into our clan lands. My house was just next to Ryder’s, my Alpha’s. I didn’t know it then, but her brothers followed us, taking the secret path that would get us past most of the lookouts and that only I knew. There hadn’t been any serious trouble between us and the wolves for years, but wolves in packs are treacherous creatures and we didn’t trust them. At least, the smarter ones didn’t.”
There was that bitterness again, that self-blame in his voice that made Keesha’s heart break for him.
“Anyway, I was just taking her into my house – I was living alone – when her brothers came up behind me and knocked me out with something. When I came to a few minutes later, I heard a struggle in the other house. I didn’t see anything but red. I understood what was going on and by the time I was back on my feet, I was seething with rage. Any sort of calm and rational thinking I might have once possessed floated away, replaced by this bleeding red fog. There she was, Adriana, my girlfriend, the love of my then-life, hanging onto my Alpha’s throat while her two brothers were trying to tear his stomach open.
I shifted so fast I don’t think I’ve ever moved quite as quickly. I remember grabbing her by the scruff of her traitorous little neck and slamming her into the wall. Ryder almost snapped the neck of one of the brothers, Argo. I grabbed the other one, Adam. I don’t think I realized I was squeezing down so hard until I heard his skull crack and saw the life go out of him.”
Battle fell quiet after that, the spark dimming in his eyes. Keesha was shaking like a leaf, partly out of anger towards the wolves and partly because she could imagine so clearly what Battle had been going through since that night. He’d been just a kid, betrayed by the girl he thought he loved, watching his Alpha be put in mortal danger.
“Adriana and Argo crashed through a window and got out of there before we could catch them. Fucking wolves. They’re always faster than we are. Usually, clan and pack issues are settled amongst shifters, but Adriana pushed until she got charges pressed against me. It looked like just another brawl gone bad. They took me away three days later and threw me in jail. I pleaded out and got a fifteen-year sentence. I got out in nine. Good behavior.”
He smiled wryly at that, shrugging his shoulders. All the things she knew and didn’t know about him were slowly coming together. Why he rarely talked about the past and preferred the future instead. Why he’d been moving around the whole time they’d been talking over SassyDate. It wasn’t because he was looking for a job. It was because he didn’t feel at home anywhere.
“Why haven’t you gone back home?” Keesha asked after a long silence, turning her body towards him.
Battle shook his head, smirking dryly. He looked so much older like that. She
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