Brew Bear (Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance) (Rescue Bears Book 4) (6 page)

Quinn slid into her car and turned on the engine. She knew exactly where Drew lived and worked from the last time she’d been on Fate Mountain. It was now or never. She’d come all this way to confront the bear who’d sired her cub. If he hated her and told her to go to hell, at least she’d done what she could do.

Drew had a right to know she was about to give birth to his baby. If he didn’t want to help her, she’d just have to figure something else out. Quinn was ready to come out of hiding and face what had become of her life.

She pulled out of the diner parking lot and started the drive across town to Drew’s brewery and the house he owned behind it. At this time of day, he might be working in the warehouse or he might be at home. Either way, she was about to show up at his doorstep.

She parked in front of the brewery. There weren’t any other cars in the parking lot. She hefted herself out of her seat and waddled across the parking lot to the front door.

She lifted her hand and knocked. After waiting a few moments, she knocked again. There was no response so she walked around the back to the warehouse door that faced the back of the building.

She knocked and waited, feeling like a fool. After a few minutes, the door slid open and Drew stood before her. He wore a white apron and a black graphic t-shirt that showed off his tattoos. His eyes were darker than she remembered, or maybe it was because he was staring at her with a stunned scowl that made his eyes narrow and shaded.

“Quinn,” he growled.

“Hi, Drew.”

“You’re pregnant.”

“Yes.”

“Whose is it?” he said through clenched teeth.

“Whose do you think it is?”

“Honestly? I have no idea.”

Quinn felt sick to her stomach. She gripped her belly, feeling the tears welling in the corners of her eyes. She’d expected him to be at least a little happy to see her. She was his mate. And she was carrying his child. She knew she’d screwed up, but couldn’t anyone forgive her?

“Why are you being like this?” she said, her voice shaking.

“Being like what? You’re just some random chick I screwed one night who took off and didn’t answer my calls or texts for nine months. Now you show up at my business with a pregnant belly. What did you expect me to do? Have a celebration?”

“The child is yours, Drew. There was no one else.”

Drew stood there, stunned, his arms crossed over his muscled chest. His brown eyes were dark under his black eyebrows.

“What do you want?” he finally said.

“I…I thought you should know.”

“Now I know. You can be on your way now.”

“Drew…” she said in a pleading voice. Why was he being so cruel? Didn’t he have any feelings for her? She thought shifters adored their fated mates. She was his. Didn’t he care?

“I don’t have anywhere else to go. I need help. I’ve been…confused for a long time, and I’ve gotten myself into a lot of financial trouble.”

“How is that my problem?”

“This is your baby. Don’t you care?”

He stood there staring at her with that cruel look in his eyes. She sniffled and turned away, the tears really flowing now. By the time she got halfway around the building, she was sobbing uncontrollably. She pulled open her car door, totally blinded by tears. As she yanked the door open, a firm hand caught her elbow and pulled her around. Drew looked down at her, his hand gripping her arm. She tried to pull away, but he held her still.

“Let go of me,” she shouted.

“Just calm down. You can’t drive like this.”

“What do you care?”

“Quinn. I’m not a monster.”

“Neither am I. Even if everyone wants to treat me like one. I’m a good person!”

“No one said you weren’t.”

“Sure. Right. You hate me. Lily hates me. Juliet hates me. I’m the bitch who ran away. I get it. I screwed up. No one will ever forgive me.”

“Is that what you want? My forgiveness?”

“I don’t deserve it. That’s been made perfectly clear.”

“Where did you go, Quinn? Why did you disappear on everyone?”

“I was confused,” she whispered.

Drew let go of her arm, and she started to cry softly, covering her face with her hands.

“Come on. Let me make you a cup of tea.”

He put his arm around her shoulders and led her around the brewery to the front steps of his house.

They walked inside, and he directed her to sit down at his dining room table. The last time Quinn had been in here, she’d been drunk out of her mind and more turned on than she’d ever been in her life.

She barely remembered Drew’s house, but it was familiar enough that she knew she’d been there before. There was a line of barrels along the back wall of his kitchen, and she knew it was his beer.

Drew was a bit of a genius when it came to brewing beer. Quinn had always been a fan of local craft brews, but Drew took his beer to the next level. It was so crisp and fresh, yet it was so high in alcohol that it got you giddy pretty fast.

He walked into the kitchen and put a kettle on the stove before reaching into a cabinet and pulling out a jar of loose tea. When the water was done, he shoved tea into a strainer, dropped it into a mug and poured boiling water over the whole thing.

He sat in front of her at the table, sliding into the seat across from her and folding his hands in front of him.

“So, you were confused? Is that what happened?”

“Confused doesn’t even begin to describe it. I was terrified. You have no idea how I was raised. My parents are the leaders of one of the oldest anti-shifter organizations in the country. When I lost control with you, it made all the things they’d ever said about shifters rise up out of my subconscious. I thought I was under an evil spell meant to rob me of my senses.”

“If it makes you feel any better, the same thing happened to me with you. I couldn’t resist you any more than you could resist me. I’m just used to the instinctive drive, and you aren’t.”

“I guess I can see that now. At the time, I couldn’t. I thought I was being brainwashed. I had to get away as fast as I could so I didn’t become your slave.”

“Did you really think I wanted you to become my slave?” Drew said, smiling for the first time since she’d arrived.

She could see the light in his eyes. He was so much more handsome when he smiled. She could tell that he was a man of good humor when he wasn’t heartbroken and pissed.

“Not anymore, but that morning after you marked me, I did. It was how I was raised. I can’t tell you how many stories I’d heard of the exact same thing happening to women. The shifter marked her and she could never escape him.”

“It’s more of a mutual thing,” Drew said. “Shifters are just as bound to their mates as human mates are to shifters.”

“I understand that now. I just couldn’t rationalize it at the time. I panicked. The confusion got the better of me, and I had to go into hiding. I couldn’t tell my parents or my friends what had happened to me. I was too ashamed. Too confused. I didn’t know what to do. Did you know I quit my job? I’ve been living on savings and credit cards for nine months. I rented a house on the coast, and I’ve been paying for my condo too. I’m going to lose my condo if I don’t sell it soon. I just don’t have the money for the mortgage payments. I seriously screwed up my life, Drew. I don’t have anywhere else to turn.”

“Did you come here expecting us to get back together or something? I’ve spent the last nine months getting over you. I’m not about to put myself in a position to be ditched again. I’ll help with the baby, but that’s about it.”

“I can accept that. I’m a screw-up.”

“You did what you did, Quinn. As much as I’ve always wanted a mate, I just can’t take the pain again. It hurt me more than you know. All I can do now is turn my heart off. I’m not going to let you break it again.”

“I’m not here to break your heart.”

“You’re here because you need help. You’ve never really wanted me. That’s fine. We’ll figure out how to take care of the child together. But
us
is never going to happen. Not in this lifetime. I’ve resolved to be alone.”

“Whatever you think is best,” Quinn muttered.

“Now. We need to find you a place to live.”

Quinn looked around at his fairly large house, thinking of an obvious solution. But she doubted he was going to want her here.

“I’ll call my alpha. He owns a lot of property. Maybe there is an empty cabin on the lodge grounds where you can stay.”

“That would work,” she muttered, feeling slightly disappointed.

Coming into contact with Drew again was having the exact same effect on her as it had the first time. Except now, they were bonded by the mating mark. There was a link between them, deep inside their hearts and minds. Being in the same room with Drew, she could feel the bond aching in her chest. All this time, she’d thought that ache had been because she was confused and terrified. At that moment, she realized that feeling was a result of being away from her mate.

Most of the disorientation she’d felt for the last nine months hadn’t been because she was too confused about her life to do anything rationally. It was because she’d run away from Drew. She felt his sadness inside her, and it made her muddled and fuzzy. If she had just faced him months ago, she might have been able to avoid a lot of stress and pain.

8

G
rabbing his cellphone, Drew sat down at the table across from Quinn with his own cup of tea. He’d made the tea with his own special blend of herbs and spices. The brew should help Quinn relax. As much as he wanted to hate her, his bear’s constant moaning eventually started to get to him.

“I’m sure Levi will know where you can stay,” he said, picking up his cell phone. He knew his alpha could help him with Quinn. Drew had to do something for her, even if they weren’t together.

How could he not want to be with her? She was everything, his mate. There would never be another. But the pain inside him from the hole she’d left there still stung. Not every fated mate relationship worked out. Some people just couldn’t come together. It happened more often than most people thought. He and Quinn had made a child. Maybe that was all that was meant for them.

He could live with that. He thought. No matter what, Quinn was not ready for a relationship. As he sat there looking at her across the table, he saw the light in her deep hazel eyes. She’d changed her hair. Her tight ringlet curls had grown longer and she’d cut it short on the sides. She’d taken off her coat and was wearing an off-the-shoulder white sweater made out of fluffy knit yarn. It rounded over her belly and made her look so soft and tasty.

She was the picture of cuteness, and Drew had to lean back in his chair as he hit dial on his phone. Levi’s phone rang three times before he answered.

“Levi, I have something important to discuss with you.”

“Shoot.”

Drew cleared his throat. “You know the girl I met at Charlotte’s wedding?”

“You mean Quinn, your mate?” Levi said with a small chuckle.

“Yes. Her. She’s here, right now.”

“Quinn is with you?” Levi said, surprised.

“She’s here, and she needs help.”

“Where has she been? Juliet’s been worried sick for months.”

“I know. That’s not the point of my call.”

Drew looked across the table at Quinn. She rubbed her belly, looking nervous. She bit her lip and looked up at him with doe eyes. His heart melted like a glacier in the tropics.

“What’s going on? What’s wrong?”

“Quinn is in some financial trouble and she’s…expecting.”

“Expecting what?” Levi asked.

“Expecting a cub. Like Juliet.”

The phone went garbled, and Drew thought maybe Levi had dropped the phone.

“Hello?” he said.

“Juliet wants to come over,” Levi said.

“I don’t think this is a good time, Levi. Quinn needs a place to stay.”

“Why can’t she just stay with you? You have extra rooms.”

“It’s not like that with us. She needs a place of her own.”

“I see. All the cabins at the lodge are booked up. I’m assuming she wants a house, not a room at the lodge.”

“Ideally. She’s going to need a place for the baby.”

“The cabin out across the lower fork of Fate River is empty right now. It’s a bit remote. Angus did some work over there last summer. We put in some nice new amenities. Even has satellite internet.”

“Sounds perfect.”

“The keys are under the garden gnome in front of an azalea bush.”

“Got it. Thanks, Levi. I’ll talk to Quinn about Juliet,” he said, looking up at her for her reaction.

She pressed her lips together and made a little whimper in the back of her throat. Drew hung up the phone and set it down on the table.

“He says you can stay out at the cabin across the south fork.”

“Okay,” she said reluctantly.

“Says it’s got great new amenities. We can go out there now if you’d like.”

“I should get some food and things,” she said.

“Sounds like a good idea.”

“Why don’t we stop by the grocery store on the way out of town.”

Quinn followed Drew back through his house, and they walked across the lot to where she’d parked her car. She opened the door, and he watched her get inside.

“You can follow me. I’m parked around back of the brewery.”

He closed her door and she started her car, looking up at him one last time before he walked away. What the hell was he doing? Should he even let himself get this deep into this thing? The Quinn ship had sailed a long time ago. But the feelings he’d had for her that night were coming back in a torrent.

Not only did he feel that animal attraction to her, it was worse now. She had that round, ripe belly that he wanted to caress and lick down between her juicy thighs. He growled at himself as he pulled open the car door. What was he thinking?

He knew what he was thinking. He was thinking about his mate. He wanted her bad. That couldn’t be denied.

With the baby coming, he wanted to protect her too. It was stronger and deeper than the desire to feel her body warmly around him. This was in his gut and in his heart. Quinn and her child were precious and needed to be kept safe. He wanted to care for her as strongly as he’d ever wanted anything in his life.