Then again, based on the way he’d already healed her so completely, maybe she shouldn’t be so surprised.

  She hummed to herself all the way back to her office and gathered her things, already feeling the butterflies of anticipation as she headed for The Shifty Cat where Grayden and the others waited for her.

  A crew dinner, Grayden had told her yesterday after he and Ryker had finished moving the last of her things into his place. Well, the last of her things that would fit. They needed to do some serious reworking of that tiny cabin. Grayden was already talking about adding a room or two. Something about cubs. Rachel had gone teary-eyed and pretended not to hear him. She was already so happy and couldn’t imagine the joy she’d get from bearing him cubs.

  He was going to be a great father someday.

  And tonight, they were going to welcome her as part of their family. How things had changed!

  She walked out, locking up behind her, and stopped short with a small gasp at the sight of Grayden standing on the stoop. His brown hair and tanned features were awash with late afternoon sunlight. His faded, torn work jeans and scarred boots were so familiar and so him that it made her mouth water—mostly at what he kept underneath those jeans.

  “I didn’t want to wait,” he explained and she stepped into the circle of his arms, letting him kiss her until both of them couldn’t breathe.

  “That was a hell of a hello,” she said, smiling up at him.

  “I needed to see you,” he said and she sensed there was more to it than that. She ran her hand over the back of his neck.

  “Is everything okay?” she asked, suddenly wary.

  “Everything’s fine,” he assured her. “With me. But with you…you’ve been so busy lately and with changes at your job and moving in… I just needed to make sure all of this is what you wanted. I know humans don’t usually move this fast,” he explained.

  “Grayden, stop worrying. I’m exactly where I want to be. Working at the shelter, doing something I care about. Coming home to you every night… I’m beyond happy. I spent too many years hiding and letting the past keep me from living. I’m done with that. I want a life with you and, for the first time, I’m going after what I want.” She reached up and palmed his cheek, watching the sunlight dance in his blue-gray eyes. “You have to know how much you healed me, Grayden. Justice is fine and good but having someone who loves me enough to take care of me. To go to battle for me. To show up at work just to check on me. That’s love. That’s what heals me over and over again every single day. It’s what I want to spend my life experiencing. So don’t worry about me. I’m right where I want to be.”

  Grayden exhaled and when he smiled, she saw the weight he’d been carrying finally lift away. Rachel smiled back and knew that she’d been right to tell him: she was exactly where she belonged. With her family. Her forever mate.

  Thank you for reading BRAWLING BEAR!

  If you enjoyed this spicy fated mates romance, you’ll love MATED TO THE WILDE BEAR. Laurel’s not looking for love. Especially not some alpha shifter who thinks he's God's gift to Search and Rescue. But when her past catches up, she’ll be forced to trust her mate or lose everything—including him.

  1-click MATED TO THE WILDE BEAR now!

  “Once I got started reading I just couldn't stop!” - Amazon reviewer

  MATED TO THE WILDE BEAR

  LAUREL

  “If you want to move up in this company, you’ve got to go down.”

  Laurel read the note one last time—handwritten and complete with a little smiley face and a penis hanging out of the mouth—before tearing it into tiny little pieces with her fingernails. When she was done, she carried it to the trash can and lit the damn thing on fire with the lighter she’d stolen from her assistant. Screw Jones and his disgusting come-ons. The next time he sent her a nasty note like that one, she’d shift inside his office and claw his balls off.

  After eleven years with the Wyoming Department of Transportation, she was sick of the kind of men who ran the workplace. But she was even sicker of ignoring them. Notes like these made it almost impossible not to give in to her animal. She needed to shift. And fast.

  Another wave of heat washed over her. Sweat broke out on her brow and lip before she wiped it away, a sure sign she’d resisted her animal for too long now. God, these hot flashes were making it hard to see the words on the paper. She could not afford this. Not today, with her monthly reports due by midnight.

  At the door to the conference room, someone cleared their throat. Laurel looked up to find Scott, her administrative assistant, casting furtive glances around the room. Great, he probably thought she was trying to get freaky with herself or something. As the only woman in management, Laurel knew what they said about her. About what she must have done to “climb the ladder” to get here.

  “Yes?” Laurel snapped.

  “Um, Gerald called for you,” Scott said in a nasally voice. He had a habit of looking everywhere but at Laurel.

  “I’ll take it in here,” she said, already reaching for the phone in the center of the table.

  “He’s already gone. A plane to catch,” Scott explained.

  “Then what did he?—”

  Scott shoved his glasses higher up his nose and finally met her gaze. “An emergency call out on Highway Six. Near Cripple Creek. Mountain biker went down in a gorge. Boss wants you to handle the field report and coordinate with Blue Bear Search and Rescue.”

  Laurel frowned. “Why Search and Rescue?” she asked. “Shouldn’t we call the Ranger’s office?”

  “Like I said, he’s stuck in a gorge, ma’am. No human can get in there.” He practically sneered at that, and Laurel quickly realized the unspoken meaning behind his words. Of course. Gerald wanted a shifter. Scott despised them, as did a number of others whom she’d met here. The world as a whole might have accepted the existence of shifters, but individually, there were always exceptions.

  She’d been extra careful to keep her animal hidden around Scott. Around everyone, actually. In her experience, sharing that part of herself always ended in hurt and disappointment—and usually someone leaving for good.

  “Right.” She closed the folder containing the budget reports she’d been assembling and pushed to her feet. “Radio whoever’s on site. I’m on my way.”

  Scott nodded and scurried off. Laurel packed up her paperwork a little slower than she probably should have. A mountain biker’s life was at stake, after all. But she’d avoided this particular part of the DOT’s job for years, and she dreaded having to do it today—even if she was only filling in for Gerald.

  Being on site for emergency calls meant dealing with Blue Bear Search and Rescue. And they weren’t just any Search and Rescue, but the Wilde Mountain Crew. Just thinking about them brought on another hot flash. A combination of anticipation and panic. What if it was Wilde Bear himself?

  She’d only ever seen the alpha polar bear from afar, but he was breathtaking and terrifying even from a distance. And he was rumored to be a party boy back in the day, although she hadn’t seen him with a single female since she’d moved here last August. Maybe he kept his partying behind closed doors. Heat rose along her neck as she pictured what sort of partying that might be.

  She quickly shook it off again. She’d carved out a very sheltered life for herself here in Blue Hole these last couple of years. Private, careful, always professional. And now she was going to be face to face with the one group of people who could ruin it all for her, who could easily figure out her secret.

  Laurel made her way back to her corner office and allowed a quick glance out the window. It was August, too early for snow even this high up. Too early for tourists, too, and she was grateful for that. In fact, she caught herself leaning toward the glass. The urge to blow off everything and just disappear into the summer foliage for a few blissful hours was an ache in her chest.

  Her reflection in the tinted glass made her frown. Out of habit, she smoothed her skirt suit and took inventory. Her heels were low, practical but not flashy. Her suit was tailored nicely but still didn’t hide the fact that she was curvier than she’d like. Then again, it kept most of the pervs at bay. Apparently not Jones, though.

  Her blazer pulled taut at the single button below her cleavage, but she left it clasped, knowing how casual she’d appear otherwise. Her dark brown hair had started out hanging in a glossy ’do parted on the side, but now it was tangled where she’d run her hands through it too many times.

  She didn’t often wear skirts, not wanting to remind anyone of her femininity in an office full of masculinity, but she’d forgotten to pick up her dry cleaning last night. Already, she’d seen some of her co-workers take notice of her today, but she kept her head down and her boss face on. She’d been burned too many times by come-ons in the break room or working lunches that turned out to be attempts at quickies. Laurel hadn’t gotten where she was by screwing bosses and asking for favors. In fact, she did everything she could to appear equal.

  But she was a working girl among men, and that meant she would never be seen as completely equal. Not as a human woman. And especially not if they knew what she really was.

  So she kept to herself as much as possible. Snapped orders to her subordinates. Pretended confidence when she had none. And above all, she always remained professional. Just like she would today with the Blue Bear Search and Rescue. She’d worked too hard for her department manager position. She wasn’t about to let a bunch of bear shifters intimidate her into messing it up. She was a fox, after all. They were supposed to be sly, right? Keeping her fox a secret was priority one.

  She’d already been fired once before, two years ago, when her boss had found out. Women thought feminism was the real hurdle, but they had no idea. Anti-shifters had made success for a woman in the workplace even harder. Laurel wasn’t going down that road again. So she’d gone into the closet, determined to never come out again.

  Resolute, Laurel grabbed her purse and keys from her desk and headed out, giving silent chin nods to the co-workers she passed in the hall. She was friendly without being friends with a single one. No one could ever accuse her of crossing that line. There was a job to do, and Laurel planned to do it.

  GET THE BOOK HERE

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Heather Hildenbrand lives in coastal Virginia where she writes paranormal and fantasy romance full of enemies to lovers and heroes who brood. Her most frequent hobbies are cuddling with her 100-pound goldendoodle, riding country roads on the back of her husband’s motorcycle, and avoiding killer slugs.

  You can find out more about Heather and her books at www.heatherhildenbrand.com.

  ALSO BY HEATHER HILDENBRAND

  Dark Wolf Soul

  Deadly Wolf Bite

  Broken Wolf Heart

  Kingdom of Briars and Roses (Cursed Fae)

  A Glamour of Smoke and Shadow (Cursed Fae)

  Protect Me (Immortal Vices & Virtues)

  Hunt Me (Immortal Vices & Virtues)

  Consume Me (Immortal Vices & Virtues) - coming 2025

  To Hunt A Wolf

  To Kiss A Wolf

  To Keep A Wolf

  Midnight Cursed

  Midnight Hunted

  Midnight Bound

  Wolf Cursed

  Wolf Captive

  Wolf Chosen

  Wolf Revealed

  A Witch’s Call

  A Witch’s Destiny

  A Witch’s Fate

  A Witch’s Soul

  A Witch’s Prophecy

  A Witch’s Hope

  Twisted Tides

  The Girl Who Cried Werewolf

  The Girl Who Cried Captive

  The Girl Who Cried War

  The Girl Who Never Cried

  The Winter Witch

  The Spring Witch

  The Witch’s Heart

  Midnight Mate

  One Dark Spark

  Two Blazing Hearts

  Three Scorched Kingdoms

  Goddess Ascending

  Goddess Claiming

  Goddess Forging

  Kiss of Death

  Knock Em Dead

  Death’s Door

  Dead to Rights

  Dead End

  The Girl Who Called The Stars

  The Girl Who Ruled The Stars

  Alpha Games

  Alpha Trials

  Alpha Chosen

  Dirty Blood

  Cold Blood

  Blood Bond

  Blood Rule

  Broken Blood

  Imitation

  Deviation

  Generation

  Heather also writes small town contemporary romance as Violet Stafford.

  Stay For Summer

  The Breakup Bet

 

 

  Heather Hildenbrand, Brawling Bear

 

 

  Thank you for reading books on GrayCity.Net
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