The Bear's Hired Mate: A Paranormal Bear Shifter Romance (17 page)

Every part of him was more sensitive as a bear. His senses were piqued and his emotions fully took over his logic. Bounding toward his mate, rage took over his system to the point that he actually saw a red tinge cloud his vision. Eyes trained on Sitting Bear, he missed the First Son extending a paw.

The nails cut deep into Vincent’s fur and the fat layer beneath. The full body scratch wasn’t serious, but it diverted his attention to the threat of the large bear before him. Looking at the brown colored animal, Vincent had to admit he made for an equal foe. Standing slightly shorter than Vincent’s bear height, the bear ducked its head even further and charged Vincent like a linebacker.

Vincent felt himself lifted off the ground as the brown bear held sway above, trying to find purchase on Vincent’s neck. Vincent's head butted the bear and clawed at its underbelly with his hind legs. He must have made contact because the bear rolled off him with a silent howl. Snapping at the bear’s ribs and spine, Vincent made enough contact to free himself to charge once more at Sitting Bear.

Vincent made it close enough to throw Sitting Bear out of his ritual. The older man was sent flying through the air, to land on his back on the other side of the room. The man wasn’t harmed though, just pissed for having had his ritual interrupted. Before Vincent could advance on Sitting Bear, the First Son swiped at him from behind. Turning with a roar into the bear’s face, Vincent stood his ground protecting Jane from further attack.

To the side, Vincent could see that Sitting Bear was also advancing on his defensive position and his animal instinct didn’t know who the bigger threat was. Should he attack the younger, stronger bear? Or the older Clan Leader? Either was more than capable of killing Vincent and with his death, Jane’s would come swiftly afterward.

Just as Vincent decided to engage the First Son, he saw Vincenzo ram into Sitting Bear from behind and the two bears fell to the hard-packed ground, scrambling for purchase and the upper hand. Relief flooded Vincent along with a boost of adrenaline as he focused solely on the First Son. With a battle cry, he lunged forward and brought the bear in close with a full body bear hug meant to break ribs and spines. The First Son shrugged out of the hold and threw a paw at Vincent’s head. Stumbling through the haze of the hit, he flung a claw of his own out in hopes of hitting something vital.

Landing a solid punch, Vincent retreated back to guard Jane - the fight having taken him farther away from his mate than the bear in him wanted to be.

Again and again, the two First Sons danced back and forth. Neither was able to land a killing blow, neither willing to move closer or farther away from Jane. Finally, the First Son made his move, throwing himself at Vincent. Bending down and to the right, Vincent took advantage of the bear’s momentum and redirected the attack to the fire. The First Son hit the pyre spreading the logs and flame across the space.

With the attack neutralized, Vincent leaned down and used one claw to break through the bonds that held Jane to the chair. She was freed but transfixed, by the large, black bear in front of her. Sucking in a deep breath as the bear knelt down in front of her, Jane stared into the caramel colored eyes she knew and loved so well. The bear was sitting preternaturally still in the midst of the chaos. The fighting was dying down around them, but the big black bear sat there as if it had all the time in the world.

Jane hesitantly lifted one hand to the bear’s face and when it nuzzled her fingertips, Jane knew that the bear in front of her wasn’t just Vincent.  In theory, it was Vincent in mind and thought, too.

“Thank you,” she whispered as tears started rolling down her cheeks. The fight and the terror was over and Jane could feel her energy draining. The bear in front of her shifted faster than her human eyes could track into the naked but reassuring form of the Vincent she was used to. Leaning down, he scooped her up out of the chair and let out a low whistle that had another of the black bears trotting over and following them out of the room.

Jane’s eyes flashed with terror for a moment and Vincent leaned down to explain, “It’s Xavier. He’ll protect us while we’re in our human form until we get to the armored cars. Nothing, not even the bears can get us once we’re in them.”

When they were safely ensconced in the black leather interior, Vincent draped in a robe packed for the possibility of shifting, they were finally able to speak to one another.

“Vincent, I love you so much. You have to know that - this morning when I left in a rush, I was just frustrated. I didn’t understand what was going on...but now I think I have an inkling of why you wanted to mate me so fast.”

Vincent’s eyes drifted down to the raw skin on Jane’s wrists, one of the many outward signs of what she’d been through. “It was a mistake on so many levels.”

“What was?”

“The mating. It was why Sitting Bear moved the ritual up. You were right - usually there’s more time between finding a mate and mating them. The people of their Clan who wanted to warn us didn’t have time because I fast tracked the engagement. Not only did I almost lose you in our own relation...”

Vincent’s words seemed to want to alienate Jane, but he hadn’t noticed that he was still stroking her hand. Jane sighed. “You know, a lot of the stuff going on between us could have been avoided if you had just been honest with me,” she said looking into his eyes. “It probably would have helped if I’d stuck to my guns and been clearer about how I felt emotionally, too. We failed each other when we stopped communicating.”

Vincent nodded. “I’m not used to talking about this stuff outside the Board. To be honest, one of my failings is that I’m too emotional - too rash when it comes to my leadership. I was trying to keep it all contained, but that didn’t help either. It just cut me off from you.”

“Vincent, each Clan Leader is going to be a different type of ruler. You are emotional and it’s your emotion that serves you best. Yes, you need to control it - you need to listen to everyone to be fully informed. But you’ve made some of your best choices when you’ve used your emotions.”

Looking deep into Jane’s eyes, he realized she was right. “You were my best choice, Jane.”

Jane laughed. “As I understand it, I wasn’t much of a choice for you. Aren’t mates fated?”

“I chose to choose my fate then. I will always choose you, my love.”

Jane’s eyes filled with tears again. “And I choose you. I don’t have the same instinct and with my whole heart and all of the knowledge of what I’m getting into, I still choose you.”

Vincent embraced Jane and placed a slow lingering kiss on her lips. Sitting there, holding the woman he loved, naked, in an armored car, Vincent had never felt so complete and in control of his life. He had always simply needed to choose it. They both had.

Jane stood in front of the full-length mirror, tugging at a stray pin in her hair. It was grinding into her scalp and it was as if all the pressure of this moment was focused on the tiny end of that piece of metal. Carrie walked up behind her and removed Jane’s hand from her updo.

“Don’t worry I’ve got you. That’s what maids of honor are for,” she said with a wink.

“Ugh, thank you. Just watch the veil!”

Carrie rolled her eyes at Jane’s horrified expression when her hands had strayed too close to the tulle and lace. “I think you love this veil more than you love your dress.”

Jane’s eyes rolled over the strapless confection Carrie had laced her into earlier. It was a sweetheart neckline with pearls and crystals sewn across the bodice. There was a belt at her tiny waist that accented the curves of her breasts and the ample swell of her hips underneath the princess skirt. It was a thing of beauty, her dress was. She’d found it months ago at a bridal shop in Paris. Vincent had surprised her by flying the thing in first class. Rumor had it the dress had had its own seat on the plane.

Carrie waited patiently for Jane’s eyes to meet hers again in the mirror. When they finally did, Jane answered, “No, though I might just love this dress more than I love Vincent.”

At this, Carrie giggled and moved off to gather Jane’s bouquet. Today was a day for celebration and no expense had been spared, down to the white rose and orchid bouquets Carrie and Jane were carrying down the aisle.

Almost a year ago, Jane and Vincent had returned home after the harrowing experience of the kidnapping and overthrow of the Longclaw Board. Now Vincenzo was helping the remaining Clan members rebuild an infrastructure that allowed for a safe and secure government. One that was a healthy part of the Inter-Clan society. Vincenzo seemed reinvigorated by the task and it was a situation that allowed Vincent to be the standing Leader of the Mezzanotte Clan.

Together with Jane, he was still figuring out what his boundaries were - both with her and with the Board. But when he stayed true to himself, amazing things happened. Already it was clear that he was a natural at leadership and Vincenzo was making five-year plans to step out of both Clan’s ruling Boards.

The kidnapping, and everything that had led up to it, showed Vincent and Jane that they needed to take it a little slower. Jane didn’t hand the engagement ring back or anything. No, that beautiful rock stayed put where it belonged...on her finger. But they’d slowed the progress of the mating ceremony and wedding. They chose to go on a vacation together to France where Jane had stumbled across the dress. She had fond memories of a quickie in the bridal salon’s dressing room that colored her love for the piece of clothing.

Once they were back at home, they’d planned a wedding like any other couple and tried to focus on getting to know one another better. They worked with a counselor in the Clan community, who facilitated better communication skills for the two and it had helped tremendously. By the time the combined wedding and mating ceremony was upon them, Jane and Vincent felt like they were already a happily married couple. They didn’t think anything else could change for them after all they’d been through.

Jane walked toward the entrance to the chapel and prepared herself to walk down the aisle to Vincent, to the place in front of her friends and family where she would not only promise to love him for better or for worse, but swear a blood oath, binding her spirit to his; Jane felt the magnitude of this moment.

She could see why this was such an important step. Throughout their relationship, they’d put it all on the line except for the declaration part. Already they’d taken steps to rectify that but this was the final one.

As the doors opened to Pachelbel's Canon in D, Jane watched as Carrie started walking the two-step down the aisle. her pale gold chiffon dress disappearing into the colored light of the stained glass chapel. With a deep breath, Jane gripped her flowers and turned the corner herself. Though the space was flooded with the brilliant light of the colorful glass and filled with the sounds of heavenly music, the only thing she could focus on was Vincent. A smile lit Jane’s face and she felt with her first step toward him that she was walking toward the love of her life...toward her fate.

THE END

AUTHORS MESSAGE:

Hii

I really hope you enjoyed my book and if you did I really hope you can support me by rating me on the Amazon store at the below link!

YES, I WILL RATE YOU NOW!

You can check out all my other BEAR books at on
my Amazon Page here
;-)

Thanks in advance, you are a star

Amy Star* :-)

Get Yourself a FREE Bestselling Paranormal Romance Book!

Join the “
Simply Shifters
” Mailing list today and gain access to an exclusive
FREE
classic Paranormal Shifter Romance book by one of our bestselling authors along with many others more to come.  You will also be kept up to date on the best book deals in the future on the hottest new Paranormal Romances. We are the HOME of Paranormal Romance after all!

Click The Link Below To Access Get All This Now!

SimplyShifters.com

Already subscribed?

OK,
Turn The Page!