Vega Brothers: Alexander: BBW Paranormal Romance Reluctant Bride (The Bear Shifters of Vega Ranch Book 3) (7 page)

“Sweet is not the word to describe Alexander,” Ava said. “Even if he rolled around in a baby pool full of honey and jumped into a second baby pool full of sugar, he couldn’t be called sweet.”

Elena shrugged. “He is.”

Ava lowered her head and stared at her with serious eyes. “Has New York City lowered your standards in men that much?”

Elena laughed. God, she missed having her sister around. “You know I like a challenge when it comes to men.”

Ava rubbed her forehead. “He’s never said a nice word to me. There’re so many red flags.”

Elena laughed. “I view every blatant red flag as a personal challenge.”

“You’re nuts.”

“I missed you, Ava.”

Ava wrapped her arm around her neck and yanked her forward, kissing her on the cheek. “I missed you too, sis. Come. I want to show off my new husband’s breakfast cooking skills.”

“There’s one more thing,” Elena said, not moving.

“Oh, God,” Ava said, holding her breath and bracing for impact. “Are you pregnant with his baby?”

“No!” Elena said. “Nothing happened.” Although she wanted it to. “He said he bonded to me. Do you know what that means?”

Ava’s eyes widened and she took Elena’s hand in hers. “Yeah, I do,” she said, pulling her towards the house. “It means you’re going to be here much longer than a week.”

Julius gave Alexander an evil glare as he dropped the plate of French toast in front of him. Alexander just gave him a big smile. Nothing, not even his brother’s anger at him, was going to ruin this day. He had bonded to an amazing girl and he was going to enjoy every second of the time that he had with her.

“Thank you,” Alexander said as Julius sulked back to the kitchen. He stopped in his slippers and turned around with a shocked look on his face. Even Hannibal and Khan stopped eating to stare at him.
I guess my manners have been lacking the past few years.

“Oh, thank God you’re back,” Bailey said to Elena as she walked into the kitchen with Liam. “Where were you?”

“Were you deducted by aliens?” Liam asked, wearing his Spiderman pajamas. The four-year-old bear shifter climbed up onto his daddy, Khan’s, lap and began stealing pieces of his French toast.

“No,” Elena said with a giggle. “But close.”

“She was staying with me,” Alexander said. He felt pride swell through him at having her willingly stay with him.

“Oh,” Bailey said, looking at Elena in confusion.
Was I that bad?

Alexander cleared his throat and stood up. It was best to get this out of the way as soon as possible. “I know I’ve been a bit of a grouchy bear lately,” he said. “And I’m sorry. I was having a lot of issues with my bear but that seems to be over now.”

“A
bit
grouchy?” Julius asked with challenging eyes.

“Okay,” Alexander admitted. “A
lot
grouchy. But my bear is cool now.” He couldn’t believe the difference. His bear who would normally be pacing around, snapping and snarling, demanding to go on the search for a mate, even before his first coffee, was resting inside, content as could be. Every time that Alexander snuck a glance at Elena his polar bear purred happily. It was night and day.

“Wait a minute,” Julius said, turning around with a spatula in his hand. “Why is your bear so relaxed all of a sudden?”

Alexander sat back down and stared at his food.

“Why did Elena go missing and your bear chilling out after four years of making our lives miserable happen on the same night?” Julius asked with a furrowed brow. “Don’t tell me.”

Alexander moved the French toast around the plate with his fork, dragging it through the puddle of maple syrup.

“Julius,” Hannibal said, lowering his book. “Maybe we should discuss this later.”

“Yeah, bro,” Khan said, jumping in. “Everyone has had a tough morning.”

“Because his bear bonded to me,” Elena answered when it was clear that Alexander wasn’t going to.

Alexander glanced around the room at all of the shocked faces. Bailey smiled at him and gave him a little wink, Liam was eating Khan’s French toast, oblivious to what the adults were talking about, and Ava was watching him curiously. Julius looked furious.

“Does that mean
you two
are going to get married?” Khan asked.

“What?” Elena asked, jerking her head back. “Why would you ask
that
? Again?”

Khan just shrugged. “So we can keep the ranch.”

Ava flashed him a dirty look. “You’re not pawning my sister off so that you can keep the ranch,” she snapped.

“My sister-in-law cannot be your mate,” Julius said with his nostrils flaring. “I’m already related to you once. I don’t want to be related to you again. You’re not going to be my brother-in-law as well as my brother.”

“No one is getting married!” Elena said.

“I want more French toast!” Liam screamed.

“Enough!” Alexander yelled, shutting everyone up. He didn’t want to be the cause of all of this fighting.

“There he goes,” Julius muttered. “Showing off his true colors.”

Alexander just ignored the jab. “Yes, I bonded to Elena,” he said, standing up. “But it doesn’t matter. I’m going to war at the end of the week like we had planned and Elena will be moving back home.” He took a deep breath and held it in. “General Samson will be picking me up in five days.”

“Not soon enough,” Julius muttered.

Alexander glanced over at Elena and sighed. It would be better if he just laid low at his cabin for the rest of the time until he was sent off to war. It would be better for everyone.

He was done causing strife in this family.

He was done being a Vega brother.

He lowered his head and walked out of the house, heading for his cabin.

Where he belonged.

seven

“So what happened?” Ava asked as Elena walked with her to the stables.

“I already told you,” Elena answered.

“No,” she said with a grin. “I’m talking about the juicy details. Did you get some hot werebear loving?”

Elena felt her cheeks start to blush. “No,” she said. But she did get some hot werebear cuddling.

“Was he actually
nice
?” Ava asked, looking at her with a wrinkled forehead.

“Why does everyone keep asking me that? Was he really that bad before?” But Elena remembered their first encounter when Alexander barked at her and made her feel so unwelcome. Could he really have changed so drastically after one night with her? Did she really have that much of an effect on him and his bear? The thought intrigued her. Perhaps it was her curious nature as a journalist but she wanted to discover more. And that’s just where she was headed after she walked with Ava to the horses.

“He was pretty bad,” Ava said. “He tried to get Julius to kick me out of the house multiple times.”

Elena shook her head in disbelief. How could they be talking about the same shifter? Alexander had been a perfect gentleman, if you could forget about the whole kidnapping part of the story.

She looked up at the tall snow-capped mountains in the distance. The sun was shining today with large fluffy clouds, lazily traipsing across the bright blue sky. It was another gorgeous day and there was only one place where she wanted to be.

Ava rushed into the stables and started talking to her horse, Mad Max as she pet the side of his face. Elena watched her sister as she tried to plan out what to say.

“Ava,” she said. “You’re busy here. I can just go for a little hike to-”

“Alexander’s cabin?” she asked with a knowing grin.

Elena jerked her head back. Was she that obvious?

“Why would you say that?”

“Please,” Ava said with a laugh. “I am married to a bear shifter. I know what it feels like to have one bond to you.”

“Is that real?” Elena asked.

“Pretty intense, huh?” Ava said with a chuckle. “It’s just going to get more intense as time goes on.”

Elena took a deep breath. “But what if we’re apart?”

Ava shook her head and looked at her sadly. “It’s rough,” she answered. “Julius and I were apart for a few days once.”

“And?”

“I threw up at least twice a day.”

Elena laughed as she shook her head. “Thanks for the words of encouragement.”

Ava just shrugged. “Then don’t be apart.”

I wish it were that easy.

“I work in New York and he’s heading off to war,” she said, rubbing the back of her neck. “How can it work out?”

Ava smiled softly. “You’re fated mates. Fate will help you along.”

My sister is losing it out here.
Or could she actually be right?

“A shifter bond is a powerful thing,” Ava said. “It can be the best thing that’s ever happened to you. Or the worst.”

Elena took a deep breath. “I have to go talk to him.”

Ava nodded. She must have known what Elena was going through because she didn’t even try to stop her. “Do you know how to get back?”

“Yeah.” Elena had been paying attention the whole way back, using unusual looking trees and the river as markers.

Ava leaned in and raised her eyebrow. “A word of warning: If you sleep with him you’ll be with him forever.”

Elena chuckled. “I’m not going to sleep with him.”

Am I?

Alexander sat on the bed of his cabin and raised the pillow to his nose, inhaling the scent of Elena’s grapefruit scented shampoo. The smell was intoxicating and he had been drunk on it all of last night. The only thing he had left of that incredible night was his pillowcase with her ever decreasing smell.

He whipped his head towards the door and snapped to attention when the wind changed direction and blew the same scent into his cabin.
Is that her?

Alexander stepped outside and smiled when he saw his mate walking back towards him. “Did you forget something?” he asked with a grin.

“Are you really leaving?” she asked.

Alexander sighed. He had too. He knew that General Samson would come down hard on him if he bailed. But what choice did he have? It would be Elena, his mate, who would be first in line to be caught in the general’s cruel crosshairs.

“I don’t really have a choice,” he said as she walked up to him. She looked so spectacular, breath-taking actually. That word was fitting because he couldn’t breathe with her scent swirling around in his head, making him feel drunk on love and desire. He looked her up and down and held in a groan. She was wearing tight jean shorts that hugged her round thighs and her nice soft ass. A yellow V-neck plunged down her chest, showing off the tip of her tempting cleavage. She had the pink strings of a bikini top coming out, which wrapped around her neck. Was she planning on swimming again? Was she planning on spending the day with him? Nothing would have made him happier.

“That’s too bad,” she said, stepping on her toes and kissing his cheek. His bear purred inside him, making his chest vibrate.

She stepped back and giggled at the noise. “I have to try that again.”

“Be my guest,” he said, swallowing hard.

Elena reached up and kissed his other cheek, making his bear purr again. She stood in front of him giggling and blushing as she stared at his chest.

Alexander couldn’t resist her beauty for another second. He stepped forward, cupped her cheeks with his hands and planted his lips on hers. They were so soft and supple. She leaned in towards him and parted her lips.

Alexander swallowed her moan as he caressed her tongue with his and kissed her deeper. He slid his arms around her soft body and pulled her in close until her breasts were pressed against his chest, making him harden in his shorts.

They finally parted when they both had to take a breath. Her cheeks were a rosy red and her eyes were glazed over as she smiled shyly. “That was…”

“Nice?” he asked.

“I was going to say unexpected,” she said, still smiling uncontrollably. “But nice works too.”

“Thanks for coming back,” he said, holding her close. “I missed you.”

She just smiled as she continued blushing.

“What do you want to do today?” he asked. “We can do anything you want.”

“That river was nice,” she said. “And I have my bathing suit this time.”