Bad Bear: BBW Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance (BRIDES fur BEARS Book 1) (9 page)

“You're doing great,
Staci.” Dr. Halle smiled.

A cheer went up around the
room and the doctor turned around and said sternly, “Shh! This
is a hospital! There are other patients in the Intensive Care Unit!”

Staci tried to focus on all
the faces in the room. She saw Gramma, Ne-ma, Melanie and a dozen
other women crowded at the foot of her bed.

She blinked at them and
finally managed to wheeze, “C-conga line!”

CHAPTER
TWENTY-FIVE

At that, all the witches in
the room laughed delightedly. “Yes!” Gramma cried
happily. “Yes, you recognized us!”

“Yep! We're the
witches who danced into the alley when you and Marcus were...”
Ne-ma giggled and elbowed the witch beside her.

Staci looked at all the
beaming witches and turned her head to the side. Ethel was sitting
at the bedside, quietly wiping away her tears.

“Ethel...” Staci
reached for her big sister, and Ethel immediately grabbed her hand
and pressed it to her cheek. “What...h-how...you're here...”
Staci murmured.

“You were in a very
critical condition when you were brought in, Staci,” Dr. Halle
spoke up. “You were wheeled into surgery immediately,
but...there's only so much science, medicine and technology can do.
I'm a medical doctor, but I'm also half witch. I know that sometimes
faith and magic can heal what science cannot repair. I've seen my
mother work some miracles with her healing magic. So...I made some
calls. I called my...”

“...drinking buddies,”
someone supplied, and the witches laughed.

“But a healing spell
cannot work if there isn't a strong enough emotion to power the
magic,” Gramma said.

Ne-ma nodded. “So we
called your sister.”

“Ethel was on the first
plane out and in less than twenty-four hours, she was here in Shadow
Point,” Melanie announced.

“Love,” Gramma
said softly. “Love can power almost every spell.”

Staci stroked Ethel's wet
cheek with trembling fingers. “Ethel...” she whispered.
“But...what about Chloe? And Larry...”

“Oh Chloe's with my
in-laws. Larry wanted to come with me, but he's in the midst of an
urgent project at work, so I told him to stay,” Ethel said. “I
was so worried, Staci, and when I first saw you...” She
hiccuped a sob and began to cry again.

The sisters hugged and Staci
felt her tears flowing freely down her face. Smiling through their
tears, Ethel and Staci both turned to face the good witches of Shadow
Point.

“Thank you!” they
said together.

The witches grinned and
hi-fived one another. “Shall we let Marcus in now?”
Ne-ma asked. “We didn't allow him to come in because he might
distract us. He loves you, but...his love is tinged with so much
guilt and pain. His conflicting, turbulent emotions can make our
spell go very wrong. So that's why we had to keep him out.”

“He's probably worn
the corridor down with his pacing,” Melanie said.

“Yeah, you can let him
in,” Dr. Halle said.

The witches smiled and waved
at Staci and Ethel as they began to file out of the room.

At the door, Gramma and Ne-ma
punched their fists in the air and shouted, “Gosh! This feels
so good! We're so pumped right now! Who's up for more
spell-casting?”

A dozen hands shot up.

“All right! Let's hit
the bar, before we hit the road!”

“Come on, Emily. You
know you want to...” one of the witches teased.

Dr. Emily Halle folded her
arms and narrowed her eyes at the smirking witches. “I'm on
duty.”

“Okay, okay, we'll wait
for you to finish your shift. Meet us at The Round Table...”

The witches chattered noisily
as they exited the room, making plans for what sounded like a night
of mayhem and madcap magic. Dr. Halle managed to step aside just in
time as Marcus barreled into the room. He nearly mowed down a few
straggling witches, but they laughed and patted him on the shoulder
as they left. Jax and Joshua came skidding into the room after
Marcus.

Ethel stood up and started to
leave Staci's bedside, but Staci held on to her sister's hand
tightly.

“Stay, Ethel, please,”
Staci whispered.

Ethel nodded and sat down.
Staci continued holding her sister's hand as she kissed Marcus. His
shoulder was heavily bandaged and his face was worn with worry and
fear.

Jax and Joshua came to kiss
her lightly on the cheek. Then they went to hug Ethel.

Staci smiled at all of them.
“Hey, don't look so worried. I feel so much better and
stronger already. I have my family with me. You saved my life. All
of you.”

Ethel made a face at her.
“And you scared the shit out of us! Don't you ever do that
again!”

CHAPTER
TWENTY-SIX

“Breathe,” Joshua
hissed. “Breathe, Marcus.” When he still didn't move a
muscle, Jax nudged him hard.

Marcus inhaled sharply. God,
he had literally forgotten to breathe. He could do nothing but just
stand and stare as his beautiful, radiant bride made her way to him.

Staci's brother-in-law,
Larry, was proudly walking her down the aisle. Ethel and little
Chloe were beaming at them from the front row, and they were wearing
the same lovely pink dresses as the rest of the witches, who were all
Staci's bridesmaids. The witches threw rose petals in the air as
they walked in line behind Staci. The petals transformed into
colorful bubbles and floated above the heads of the townsfolk.

A marquee had been erected in
the town square and the whole town was invited to their wedding.

Staci smiled shyly at him
behind her veil. She stopped to give her sister and little niece a
big hug and Marcus saw the two sisters whisper in each other's ear.
They giggled and waggled their eyebrows at each other.

Larry handed Staci over to
Marcus and kissed Staci on the cheek before going back to his wife
and daughter. Marcus could hardly take his eyes off his beautiful
bride. There were a few scars on Staci's face and arms, and she
didn't bother trying to hide them. She wore a sleeveless wedding
dress which showed off her generous curves, and her hair was done up
in a stylish chignon.

The ceremony was simple and
beautiful. Once they exchanged vows and rings, his two brothers, who
were his best men, yelled, “Kiss the bride!”

Marcus gave his bride the
longest, deepest, sweetest kiss, and by the time they came up for
air, the whole town had crowded round them, hooting and clapping.

The cheeky bridesmaids all
demanded a kiss from the bridegroom as well, and Gramma and Ne-ma
jostled and stampeded their way to the head of the line.

“Come here and kiss
me!” Gramma chuckled, puckering her lips.

“Do it right, or you'd
have to do it again!” Ne-ma said to cheers from the other
witches.

Marcus turned to Staci for
help, but his bride was laughing and gesturing at him to get on with
it.

“Go on, do it right!”
Staci yelled.

Marcus stared at the
never-ending line of rowdy, giggling witches and raised his hands in
defeat. But Jax and Joshua leaped to his rescue.

“Come on ladies,”
Joshua called out. “Kiss the best men! We'll do it right!”

The witches shrieked in
delight and went to mob the two handsome and very single and eligible
best men.

“I want them both!”

“Two hunky best men!
Staci, you lucky girl!”

“Come on, kiss me
pretty boy!”

Joshua frowned at the witch
in front of him. “Didn't I just kiss you?”

“Kiss me again!”
she cackled.

Marcus finally extricated
himself from the bridesmaids and went to Staci, who was cuddling her
little niece as she laughed and chatted with her sister and
brother-in-law.

Wrapping his arms around
Staci's waist, he held his bride close and kissed her hair lovingly.

They all laughed when they
saw Tristan Gray and his brothers drag their two grandmothers away
from the line of screaming, swooning bridesmaids. The ladies
couldn't seem to get enough of the Carlan twins. Gramma, Ne-ma and a
few of their cheeky friends kept sneaking back to the queue for more
kisses from Jax and Joshua.

Marcus grinned when he saw
members of the Sheriff's Band lope towards the stage. As the name
suggested, the band was made up of members of the Sheriff's
department. Everyone applauded and whistled as the Sheriff of Shadow
Point, Winston Knight, and four of his deputies, picked up their
guitars, saxophones and keyboards and played their hearts out. The
good men and women in uniform had formed a band just for the heck of
it, and the band members were always laughing at themselves and
making self-deprecating remarks about their musical abilities. But
Marcus thought that they were actually pretty good.

Pulling his beautiful bride
to him, Marcus slow-danced with Staci. He gazed at his mate with
awe, pride and joy. They belonged to each other completely, forever.

He saw Ethel and Larry
dancing with their daughter between them. Staci grinned at her
sister and mouthed something to her. The two sisters made faces at
each other, scrunching up their noses and rolling their eyes. They
were communicating in that special, secret language that siblings
shared. He saw how happy Staci was to be close to her sister again.
Family was family, and there were bonds that could never be broken.

Marcus turned to look for his
brothers. Once he saw them, he burst out laughing. Jax and Joshua
had their hands full of bridesmaids. There were lipstick marks all
over their faces, and they looked giddy with happiness.

“The bank has approved
my request to stay with the Shadow Point branch permanently,”
Staci told him as they swayed to the music. “This isn't just a
temporary transfer. I'm staying here, for good.”

Marcus hugged her. “I'm
so glad you came to Shadow Point.” He grinned. “This is
fate. I never thought I'd meet my fated mate.”

“And I never thought
I'd end up marrying the handsome stranger who picked me up at the
bar,” Staci said with a wink.

“I love you,”
they whispered, just as the twins came bounding up.

“It's our turn to dance
with the bride!” they hollered.

Marcus grinned as he watched
his two brothers whisk his laughing bride away.

Gramma and Ne-ma appeared at
his side and tapped him on the shoulder. “And it's our turn to
dance with the groom!”

Marcus spun the two lovely
grandmothers around and tried his best to keep up with their fancy
footwork. At the end of the dance, he hugged them both and said,
“Thank you, Gramma and Ne-ma. For your magic.”

“Ah.” They
chuckled knowingly. “Love...is the most wonderful magic of
all!”

~
End
~

About the Author

Natalie Kristen is a writer
who enjoys mixing the sweet with the spicy, the light with the dark,
the possibilities with the unimaginable. She enjoys exploring
paranormal and dystopian worlds, deep desires and inspiring romances.
She is hopelessly addicted to coffee, chocolate, reading and
writing. She loves to hear from readers so please feel free to
follow her on Twitter and Facebook, or visit her blog for the latest
news and updates.

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