Catching the Bear: BBW Paranormal Shapeshifter Romance (The Callaghan Clan Book 3) (9 page)

To New York.

Far away from Alaska.

“Your bath is ready!” Bo called out from the bathroom in a sing-song voice.

I wiped at my eyes, surprised to feel the tears brimming on the edges. Not wanting to ruin this moment, I sucked down my pain and fear and thought about the gorgeous man waiting for me around the corner. My handsome, sexy, magnificent grizzly of a man who had just prepared a bubble bath for us.

I laughed as I saw the scene before me. Bo stood in the middle of the room, two wine glasses in his hands, and completely naked. Wearing his dimples proudly, he didn’t even try to hide his partial erection. It got larger once he saw my naked body.

“Come on,” he said, jerking his chin toward the tub and wiggling his eyebrows.

The sweet scent of strawberry bubble bath delighted my nose as I sauntered closer. I took my time, allowing him to enjoy the show. He stood still, waiting and watching, his grin growing wider by the second. I grabbed my wine glass and clinked it against his.

“Here’s to not camping,” I said.

His rumbling laugh had me hooked all over again. “To not camping.”

“And to bubble baths,” I added.

“Cheers,” he said before taking a swing. Then he set both of our glasses on the floor, lifted me up into his arms, and stepped into the tub with ease. “I still can’t believe someone as small as you can hold so much power over me.” He kissed my ear as he lowered us into the water. Sitting with his back against the end, he positioned me between his legs, my own back pressed against his chest.

I felt his erection push against my hips, but he didn’t seem too eager to do anything with it right this moment. He reached behind him and grabbed a sponge. “Kenzie Parker,” he whispered. “My Kenzie Parker.”

His words brought back a memory from this morning, and while he began to rub my shoulders with the hot water and strawberry soap, I got the courage to ask. “What did Calvin mean this morning when he called you my mate?”

Bo tensed behind me, breath hitching in his throat and fingers squeezing the sponge. Then he let out a long exhale and brushed his nose against the back of my head. “Have you ever talked about this with Major?”

I shrugged. “Not really. It wasn’t a topic he’d like to discuss. In fact, he’d give me a hard time whenever I would bring it up.”

“Well,” he said, continuing to clean me, “our animals usually guide us when it comes to finding a mate. Like doves or swans…most shifters will only have one true mate and when they find them, that’s it.”

“That’s it? What do you mean?”

“It’s the only person they will bond with. And it usually lasts for life.”

For life. Shifters lived a long time. Longer than most witches. Sadness etched back into my skin. Bo would outlive me. “I see,” I whispered.

He wrapped his arms around me and squeezed tight. “Calvin knew that you were my mate. He could sense it. Smell it.”

“But…” I couldn’t form words. “But how? When? We just met.”

Brushing his fingers up and down my arms, Bo continued to explain. “It happens fast for us.” He kissed my neck. “And believe me when I tell you that I never thought my bear would find his mate. Never.”

“Why?” I snuggled into him some more.

“Because he’s always been fairly dormant. Unlike my brothers who both have an animal that wants to control a lot of their lives, my bear couldn’t give a shit over finding a mate and being let out. He always stayed buried and never really forced me to deal with him. Until I met you.”

“I don’t understand,” I breathed, feeling like he was about to say something that would change the course of our lives forever.

“Kenzie, you are it for him. You are his mate.
My
mate. You have captured our hearts and there is no going back.”

I shuddered with the words I was about to utter. “But I don’t live here. I have a home and a job and…” And what? Friends? Lovers? Connections? No, I really had nothing in New York that I couldn’t leave behind. But could I move to Alaska?

“I know,” he squeezed me tighter. “But I’ve been thinking about that. I can get us a place. I have money. And it can be in the woods or in the town…wherever you feel most comfortable. And I suspect if we end up revealing ourselves to the world, someone could convince the ISC that you are needed here since there are so many shifters in Alaska.”

I chuckled. “Someone could convince them, huh?”

“Hey, I’m not tooting my own horn or anything, but I am the marketing genius behind our family and clan’s businesses. I can be very persuasive.”

“I know,” I agreed, rubbing my hands over his thighs.

“But…” he said softly.

“But what?”

“It sounded like there was a “but” coming.”

Nestling back into him again, I tilted my head to the side so that he could press those amazing kisses against my neck. He complied and I tried to imagine a life without him doing this to me every day. “No but,” I finally said. “Just some…negotiations.”

“Negotiations?”

“I like the woods but don’t know if I can be as secluded as Calvin.”

“Okay,” he chuckled.

“And I don’t want to keep running into your ex-girlfriends unexpectedly, so sometime we’re going to have to have that conversation.”

“Okay,” he said much more quietly. But then he added, “None of them were ever my girlfriend.”

“Eww,” I said into his laugh.

“Anything else?” he asked.

“Don’t make fun of Cybil.”

“Done. But do you think you can pick a…larger animal.”

“No. I like Cybil.”

“Okay fine. What else?”

I sucked in a deep breath and prepared. “I have a confession.”

“Spit it out.”

“I think I already love you.” My words came out in a squeak and I tried to hang my head in embarrassment.

But Bo was having nothing of it. In one swift move, he’d spun me around and set me in his lap. “You have no idea how happy that makes me.”

“But isn’t it too soon? Like ridiculously too early in our one-day relationship?”

Kissing me several times, he finally stopped long enough to answer. “Perhaps witches find their soulmates just like us?”

“I don’t know—”

“Do you like being with me?”

“Yes.”

His hands cupped my ass and pulled me against his erection. “Do you like having sex with me.”

“Very much,” I giggled.

“Can you imagine your life without me in it?” His voice lowered to a whisper, almost like he was afraid to ask.

“No,” I breathed.

He smiled wide. “Then why fight it, Kenzie Parker? You are my mate for life. My bear chose you and I believe your little Cybil picked me.”

“Little Cybil?” I asked with a grin.

“Yep, that’s my name for her. Little Cybil for my Tiny Witch.”

Kissing him again, I ran my hands though his hair. “I think I can handle that,” I said.

“Perfect.”

My heart warmed with so much love in it I thought it might explode. In my twenty-five years on this planet, I’d never felt this strongly about anyone. Not even Evan, whom I’d thought was my first love. Sure, I’d loved him. But not like this. Bo and I connected on such a different level, I couldn’t even understand it myself. I knew I wouldn’t be able to explain it to my parents, but I also wasn’t really worried about that. They’d understand. And if they didn’t, then I still always had Bo by my side.

Mates for life. That’s what we were.

And as he started caressing every part of my body again, I shouted on the inside about how lucky I was to catch this amazing bear.

Kenzie Parker was mine. My mate. My better half. My…my love. If only my brothers could see me now. Man, would they be giving me a hard time. Of all the women, of all the one-night-stands, it only took one day for me to fall for a human. Who would have thought this was possible?

I looked over at Kenzie, stretched out on the bed completely naked and asleep. Her red curls sprawled over the pillow like fingers and her freckled porcelain skin practically glowed in the early morning light peeking in from the window. My Aphrodite. My little witch with a power over me she probably didn’t fully understand yet. I could feel my bear more now. He was closer to the surface and always thinking about her safety. He wanted to protect her and nurture her, and the feelings of need it induced in me almost had me weak in the knees. It was amazing how much I cared about her and how much it would tear me to shreds if something happened.

“What time is it?” Kenzie asked in a whisper. She looked up at me with the most amazing blue eyes and heart-crushing smile.

“Seven.”

Rolling on her side, she faced me. “How long have you been up?”

“A while.”

“Is everything okay?”

I walked over to the bed and sat on the edge. Rubbing my fingers through her thick hair, I brushed her cheek, enjoying the feel of her soft skin against my own. Touching her brought a bone-deep comfort to me that I’d never felt before. “Of course,” I whispered. “Why do you ask?”

“Well, because you’re up and you’re not trying to fuck me.”

With a deep laugh, I had to shake my head. “Such language,” I cooed as I bent forward and gave her a quick kiss. “Besides, I figured you might need a little break after last night.” We’d barely managed to close our eyes for any significant amount of time. There was the tub, and then the bedroom floor, and then in bed…Kenzie’s appetite was just as ravenous as mine and that had been the biggest turn on of all for me.

Kenzie’s small fingers brushed against my shoulders. “I don’t ever want to take a break from you, Bo.”

Several kisses later, I finally pulled myself away when I heard her stomach growl. Jumping out of bed, I pulled on a pair of jeans and headed toward the door. “I’m going to get us some breakfast. Don’t go anywhere.”

She giggled and blew me a kiss, and I actually did the cheesiest thing in the whole world—-I pretended to catch it in the air. Who was I? What was happening to me? But as I heard her laugh again and that warmth tingled through my skin at making her do that, I simply accepted fate. I would do anything for Kenzie and I never wanted to be away from her.

I jogged down the hallway, anxious to get our food and get back to my mate. Sniffing the air, I followed the sweet scent of bacon until I reached the dining room area. There, a full spread had been prepared even though I knew we were the only guests. No one was in the space, and a part of me liked that. I didn’t want to chat with anyone right now.

Grabbing two plates, I started to fill them up—hard boiled eggs, bacon, cheese, biscuits, and fresh fruit. My own stomach started to rumble so I snuck a piece of meat into my mouth. After a night like last night with Kenzie, I definitely needed to refuel. Tasting a piece of cantaloupe, I continued to pile the food on top of the plates. It was a precarious task, and I almost dropped everything when I heard someone scuffle in the doorway.

I turned so quickly, a few blackberries fell to the floor. The older woman jumped forward, covering her mouth and apologizing. “Oh no, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

She wasn’t the same lady that had checked us in last night and my bear quickly grew suspicious. “Leave them,” I said. “Who are you?”

She stood quickly, her head barely coming up to my shoulders. Her tanned skin was wrinkled and dry, making her appear to be in her late seventies or early eighties at least. Gray wisps of hair fell in her face and she tried to tuck them back into her messy bun. Her baggy dress and large sweater hung on her small frame but her eyes were as sharp as a hawk’s. “I’m the owner,” she said, a little taken back by my question.

Shaking my head, I reined in my annoyance at her sneaking up on me and turned on the charm. “Oh, well thank you for getting us a room on such short notice. It’s been really great.”

She studied me, head twitching back and forth, eyes digging deep into my soul. “You’re of the Callaghan clan?”

I nodded.

“A friend of the Tik’a pack?”

“Yes,” I said with suspicion. “Why do you ask?”

She stared a moment longer before dropping her gaze and picking up an egg. Tossing it in the air a few times, she seemed to get younger right before me. Surely that was a trick of the sunlight coming in through the sliding glass doors on the far wall. “Give my regards to your brother,” she said and then turned and walked out of the room.

Stunned and confused, I had to wonder what in the hell that was all about. She was a shifter, an eagle I’d guessed, but it was really strange for her to ask about the wolf pack my brother’s mate, Scarlett, was a part of. Especially this far away from them.

I wanted to follow her, to ask her more questions, but my bear stopped me. He thought the encounter was odd as well and now he only wanted to get back to Kenzie and protect her from the strange old lady.

So I complied. By the time I got back to our room, hands and arms full of our bounty, Kenzie was dressed, sitting on a perfectly made up bed, and reading something in her lap. She set the folder down when I entered, immediately sensing something was off.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, running over to help me with the plates.

“Nothing, I just met the owner and it was…weird.”

“Weird?” she asked with a chuckle.

“Yeah. Just weird.” I kissed the top of her head and ushered us to the small seating area near the window. “It’s no big deal.” Looking at the file on the bed, I asked, “What were you looking at?”

“Hmm? Oh, I was just reading up on the coyote pack.” She took a bite of her biscuit and closed her eyes. “This is so good.”

“What info do you have on them?” I wondered if she knew about my little mistake from the other week.

Kenzie shrugged and wiped her mouth. “Not much, actually. They seem to stay pretty secluded and away from anything ISC related.”

“Coyotes tend to be skittish. Even the real ones,” I said. In my experience, it was very hard to get one of them alone…although I personally knew it
was
possible. “So why you?” When Kenzie shot me a raised brow, I continued. “I mean, why would the ISC want you to talk to them?”

“Oh,” she said and swallowed. “Well, how much do you know about skin-walkers?”

“Like shifters?”

“No, they’re different.” Crossing her legs underneath her, the smile on her face grew as her fascination took over. “They shift into animals like you, but their source of the change comes from magic.”

“Like you,” I breathed, some things starting to click together.

“Like a witch.”

“But you can shift your form, too. Are you a skin-walker?”

She sighed. “I wish. They are born with the magic to shift. I had to work really hard on a spell that lessoned my human side and let an animal take over.” Shoving a berry into her mouth, she continued. “I guess they’re more like you, like a real shifter, than like me.”

The disappointment in her voice hurt me again. I hated seeing her this way. “Kenzie, I’m no expert, but if they use magic to shift into an animal, and you use magic to shift into an animal, wouldn’t that make you kind of the same?”

She smiled, knowing I was trying to cheer her up. “Well, when you put it like that, sure. But they rely on one witch in their pack to distribute the magic.”

“What do you mean?”

“Their power comes from their leader. He or she is the only one that holds the ability to control them all. Without their leader’s influence and magic…no one can change into their animal.”

“What? Really?” I sat back in my chair in amazement. “Why the hell didn’t I know about this before?”

Kenzie shrugged again. “I don’t think it’s something they want other shifters to know. They really pride themselves on being self-sufficient.” She looked at me, straight in the eyes. “Can you imagine how the other shifters would react if they knew they could defeat a coyote pack simply by taking out the leader? It would be a devastating secret.” Pointing her bony finger at my face she added, “And I expect that you’ll keep this information to yourself.”

“Of course,” I whispered, still thinking about how that could change the relationship with the coyote pack and the rest of us in this state. Then, I had a thought. “Wait, are there more shifters out there that are really skin-walkers?”

Leaning back into her chair, she gazed out the window. “I only know of one other species but suspect there are more.”

“Which one?”

“Ravens.”

“Ravens? Huh.” I hadn’t other met a shifter raven but had heard they existed. Supposedly there were some around the Sitka area. “That’s awesome.”

“Awesome and secret,” she reminded me.

I lifted my hands in surrender. “I swear to you, as my mate, that this information will only stay in my head.”

“Good,” she giggled. “I like it when you call me your mate. It sounds so…animalistic.”

Setting my plate down, I jumped across the floor to her chair and scooped her up into my arms. “Well, I am an animal.”

She touched my lips and then rubbed her hips up against my hard cock. “Don’t I know it,” she mumbled.

I pressed my lips into hers, feeling that need to never let her go wash over me again. But we did have a job to do. “We should probably go,” I said between kisses.

“Yeah, we probably should,” she moaned.

And that little noise, the one that told me she was fired up and ready to go, had me rushing toward the bed. I’d never wanted someone as badly as I wanted her. Kenzie drove me and my bear wild, keeping us riled up with the smallest of gestures. Laughing as I set her down, she pushed the folder to the side and pulled me closer.

“I guess we don’t need to leave just yet,” she whispered.

“No, not yet.”

****

An hour later, we were on our way. We’d managed to check out without seeing the strange old lady again and I was okay with that. As much as I loved fucking Kenzie, I knew that we needed to smooth out the relations with the coyotes. My clan was counting on it. Hell, the ISC was counting on it. And even though I wanted to pull Kenzie into my den and lock the two of us up in there together, it wasn’t the reality we lived today. Maybe another time soon, though.

The town of Nenana was one of those places you could almost miss if you weren’t paying attention. It only took us a short drive to reach it, but the handful of buildings along the main street of the town looked abandoned and desolate.

“Are we in the right spot?” Kenzie asked, peering out the window and then looking down at her map again.

We passed the sign carved out of a stump that welcomed us to the town. “Yep, this is it.”

“Two hundred and twelve people?” Kenzie asked in surprise. “That’s it?”

I smiled. “Different than New York City, right?”

“No kidding,” she breathed.

I pulled in front of a building that served as the general store, the butcher, the post office, and the government center. Not a soul walked the street and the lights hadn’t been turned on inside.

“This is strange.”

“Yes,” I rumbled. My bear rose to the surface, urging me to let him snoop around. “You did say they were expecting us, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Then where are they?” I wondered to myself, looking up at the second floor and seeing nothing. I turned off the Jeep Kenzie continued to let me chauffer her in and debated my next action. I knew the coyotes were pissed at me, but they weren’t usually the aggressive type. Territorial and defensive, yes. But not outright hostile.

Opening the door, I stepped outside and was immediately slammed with the aroma of an impending attack. Fear, excitement, aggression, hate. All of them unique and all of them filling up the street like a red flag. “Kenzie?” I asked, taking off my shirt and untying my boots. “Are you sure you can’t shift into something a little larger? Like a polar bear or something?”