I Married a Bear

Content copyright © A.T. Mitchell. All rights reserved.

Published in the United States of America.

First published in May, 2014.

Disclaimer:
The following is a work of fiction. Any resemblance it may hold to persons living or deceased is entirely coincidental.

SOME HEARTS ARE MEANT TO BE, EVEN IF THEY DON'T KNOW IT YET...

He's the big bad Alpha husband she never wanted. She's a sharp tongued tigress with really dangerous curves.

Laura Hisch can't believe she's marrying him. Him!

She's not cut out for the brutish, tough talking, tattooed head of the Denali werebear clan. If only she wasn't bound by a pesky old treaty with an arranged marriage clause...

One look at the voluptuous lady from Tiger Bay drives James Roark insane. Obsession, passion, and hunger only have one cure. He's got to make the sweet stubborn werecat at the altar his wife for real.

If only he knew marriage is just a ruse for her real mission. Get close to him, find his weakness, and then give Tiger Bay everything it needs to drive the bears away once and for all.

Easy, right? Wrong. Yielding her heart to this bad boy means betrayal, and either James or her clan are going to pay big time.

Will James turn a sham marriage into something beautiful – or will loving Laura lead to all out war?

And if that's not complicated enough, there's a jealous female werebear standing by to make sure these fated mates never become one.

Note: This BBW shifter romance is packed with love, betrayal, and language wilder than a tiger-bear brawl! Curl up with something comfortable and furry. These fated mates have got a long, stormy road ahead...

I: Bear of a Wedding (Laura)

“I can't marry him, Daddy! I've never seen him, never spoken to him, and he's an honest to Gods grizzly! Yuck!” I sucked in badly needed air.

My whole body trembled as I stared at my reflection. The tight, cream colored dress constricted my whole body, making this entire nasty affair that much worse.

The gods are cruel today. I'm really supposed to celebrate my twenty-first birthday with an arranged
marriage to a man who's not part of my clan?

Heck, he's not even a tiger!

“Now, Laura, don't make me explain this again.” He waited until I spun around to face him. “This wedding isn't about you. It's about our clan. Your marriage gives us a peace that's been bitter at best for generations. Tiger Bay can't afford a war with Denali. Not an open one where we all line up and do battle, anyway.”

I shook my head and stomped my foot. The tears were coming, but I resisted. Holding them in made the wild tremors sweeping through me even more intense.

Great.
If I didn't breakdown in an embarrassing whimper, I might have a heart attack instead.

My tantrums were nothing new to my father. He crossed the room and gently laid his hand on my shoulder. I just wanted to slap it away.

“I've already assured you the marriage is for appearances only. He won't lay a hand on you. If he does, he'll have a whole pack of angry tigers breaking down his door to get you out of there.” Daddy paused. “Of course, you and I know he'll get tiger guns in his face either way. But we're not quite ready for that. We need to bide our time, let him feel safe with you. You remember all the little details I told you about the operation, right?”

I swallowed. Hard.

Daddy hadn't gotten to be Alpha of Tiger Bay by being some great peacemaker. He was cunning, ruthless, never a man who did anything without a very good reason.

He didn't swallow his pride either. Giving up his only daughter to some old treaty was a big compromise. I think he viewed it as an investment, expecting a return in blood and treasure.

Aside from his closest military advisers, I was the only one in Tiger Bay who knew what he really had planned after the wedding.

“It's just a few months, Laura,” he said softly. “Remember, if everything goes off without a hitch, this wedding will be the last insufferable arrangement between our two peoples. No more bears, plenty of hunting for tigers in their rich lands. Lots of lumber to feed our industry. All you have to do is put up with the brute for a little while. Then I'll find you a good man in a tiger clan who'll be your true mate. I promise.”

“Whatever,” I snorted. “It's easy for you to say. You don't have to live with a big ferocious bear for –

how long? – months?”

He nodded. “The price of public service, my dear. We've lived the good life since you were born.

Your mother raised you to be strong and conscientious, Laura. Gods rest her memory. If you can put your fears aside and go through with this today, then you'll honor her the best way I know how.”

He reached into his pocket. I reluctantly took the soft handkerchief he shoved toward me, blotting at my watery eyes.

Daddy smiled. His face was warm, excited. This was just another part of a long, high risk game to him, and I was one more chess piece.

Even so, I saw a father's concern in his eyes, too authentic to mistake for anything else.

He
needed
me to do this. Our family had profited from leading the clan and swore to protect it, and an Alpha's daughter was expected to share the same deep relationship.

The only thing worse than my impending marriage to a savage bear was letting him down. Or worse, letting down mother, wherever she'd gone with the gods.

“Okay, fine. I'll do it.”

“That's my girl!” Daddy embraced me in a big hug. “I'm proud of you. Learning to put your people first is a serious sign of growing up. Besides, you look so beautiful in your granny's dress...pretend this is just a rehearsal for the real thing. Someday, you'll marry a tiger who'll sweep you off your feet.”

I smiled at the thought. I needed something to smile about with the lace cuffs burning my wrists and neck.

Granny had been a full figured female too, but I was even bigger. Of course, most tigers were today thanks to better nutrition than what they had in the old days. Human technology and trade made our hunts a whole lot more reliable.

I sighed in Daddy's arms, grateful I wasn't really marrying my fated mate today. It wasn't the worst thing in the world knowing this was a purely political marriage, even if it felt like it in my panicky moments.

It would've been far worse to marry a handsome tiger and see the disappointment in his eyes when I came to the altar. None of the males in Tiger Bay had ever looked at me with real desire, and not just because Daddy would've torn their heads off if they did.

I didn't have the sleek shapely body females tigers were expected to have. I was a full figured girl, too busty and plump to wear the traditional tiger clothes that weren't hand me downs from my own family, or plus size imports from the human world.

The door to my changing room swung open. Daddy released me and we both looked at his assistant, Marshall.

“They're all ready for her, Mister Hisch.”

My father nodded and took my hand. “Are
you
ready for this, Laura?”

I answered him by stepping toward the gaping door. Arm in arm, we walked through it, into the hallway leading to the main chamber, where the two clans had assembled for the small ceremony.

High ranking officials from both sides were decked out in their finest suits, some of them wearing glittery medals.

An organ started droning wedding music, and I nearly passed out. If it weren't for Daddy holding me steady, I might've toppled over and lost everything. Somehow, I managed to keep going, step by step, toward the altar.

It wasn't until I was halfway across the carpet that I looked up and saw my groom for the first time.

The instant I did, I really lost it. Everything went numb and blurry, and I began to fall.

“Let's try this again, Miss Hisch. Do you take Denali's Alpha, James Roark, to be your mate, inseparable as the heavens?”

The priest had a sour look on his face. Hushed whispers fell across the small crowd as they waited tensely, Daddy included.

I forced myself to look at James again. His strong face revealed nothing beyond a tiny spark in his eyes. He looked at me, his huge chest and broad shoulders perfectly anchored in his suit, waiting for an answer.

I wished I could've stopped time and studied him. From what little I saw before I fainted, and after Daddy fanned me back to consciousness for the final few steps to the altar, I was about to marry a huge man.

No, a giant.

Over two hundred pounds of well sculpted muscle stood before me, stuffed into a tuxedo, powerful as a grizzly even when he was in his human form. His thick, hard torso stopped at his shoulders and then new muscles went up his neck, topped by a handsome face with a masculine jaw and the faintest hint of stubble.

I literally froze up in his shadow. I expected the bear to be a brute – he was his clan's Alpha, after all, just like my father – but I didn't expect him to be a
handsome
brute.

And handsome was a ridiculous understatement. He had a manly physique most tiger males would've needed steroids to chisel with their lean bodies, and even then it would've been a stretch.

Nobody in Tiger Bay matched a bear's size and strength. And my stomach hummed with conflicting emotion when I realized just how drop dead sexy the Goliath look really was.

“Go ahead and answer the priest, beautiful. Promise I won't bite, unless that'll get you to move things along.”

His first words shook me out of my stupor. His voice matched the rest of him, smooth and baritone, every word honed like a natural command.

Gods! It was going to be
very
hard to say no to this voice. I was afraid of living with a bear before, but now I was paralyzed.

Blushing, I looked at the old priest and remembered the holy words from the rehearsal.

“I do. I belong to him, just as the gods intended.”

Crap! Tiger wedding vows aren't suitable for this at all.

I'm sure the gods never intended me to marry a man like this. Not a hulking bear drowning me in his
big brown eyes, making me wish he weren't a damned grizzly...

“And do you, James Roark, cherish this female as your sacred duty? To love and protect her, a symbol of peace between our peoples, as eternal as the–“

“Yeah, I do.” He cut the priest off, drowning the flowery words. “This pretty little tiger belongs to me now.”

The priest cleared his throat and shuffled uncomfortably, clearly annoyed by the break in tradition.

My eyebrows went up. Had he really said that? And at our wedding, no less?

Just what kind of asshole is this bear? I'm not anybody's little tiger, and certainly not yours!

The words were at the tip of my tongue when something exploded behind us. I realized it was a big balloon, squeezed a little too tight by a young bear in the front row.

Several laughs echoed through the temple. No sense in chastising him now. It seemed the gods were conspiring to make this even more of a laughingstock than it already was.

“Today, the heavens are satisfied! Take her hand, young bear, and show this woman to your den.”

Claps and a few muffled cheers rang out. Several more balloons burst with a bang.

Tigers shuffled uncomfortably. It was one of the bears' dumb wedding traditions, fascinated as they were with big floating objects.

I extended a hand to him, a cold reminder how phony this wedding really was. Normally, the priest would've said
take her lips
if this were a real tiger wedding, and everybody would've been treated to a raucous kiss between the new couple.

James' big hand went around mine and squeezed. He plucked the ring from the man next to him and shoved it on my finger. It was full of glittery diamonds set in silver.

Prettier than I expected, but definitely had Denali's overwhelming, showy vibe. I suppressed a shudder, expecting it to be over with this thing on my finger, but he held on.

“Wear it proudly. Good reminder to everybody you're my wife.” He smiled and I almost turned to stone.

But I really lost my breath when he pulled my hand toward his lips. We locked eyes, and he held my gaze, daring me to fret or scream. Behind me, I could practically feel Daddy turning red as a firecracker, or else biting his tongue.

James dipped his big head, planting his hot, firm, and dangerous lips on the back of my hand. His tongue flicked out for a micro-second, just long enough to taste, and to let me know that he'd done it.

The laughter and jeers fell silent. James held on, deepening the fire he breathed into my shaking hand, until the priest cleared his throat.

“It's done, sir. You're free to take her home.”

James broke the kiss and looked at the man in the robes between us. “Thanks. I'll do that.”

My jaw was still hanging halfway to the floor. Without releasing my hand, he pulled me closer, and then made a direct line down the long carpet I'd just walked with my father to be handed over to him.

The badass in the suit was practically towing me behind him, and I had to pump my knees quickly to keep up. We branched off in the hall, not even stopping to shake hands or pause for photos.