Loving The Bear: BBW Paranormal Bear Shifter Romance (Gray Bears Book 2)

LOVING
THE BEAR

By

Natalie Kristen

BEAR HEAT series

Bear's Bride (Book 1)

Bear's Kiss (Book 2)

Bear's Claim (Book 3)

Bear's Baby (Book 4)

Bear's Heart (Book 5)

GRAY BEARS series

Marrying The Bear (Book 1)

Loving The Bear (Book 2)

Mating The Bear (Book 3)

Coming Soon!

Copyright
© 201
5
Natalie Kristen

ALL
RIGHTS RESERVED

No
part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever
without the author's written permission except in the case of brief
quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This
is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are
used fictitiously or are the products of the author's imagination.
Any resemblance to actual locales, events, establishments or persons,
living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

About
this Book

Elle
Redfern is done running. She has just bought a modest, little bakery
and she hopes to finally be able to make a fresh start in this small
town. She has never known love and happiness, and she wishes, with
all her heart, that she could find true love and have a
happily-ever-after. Like in a fairy tale. But her life is no fairy
tale. She has the scars to prove it.

Aidan
Gray has just returned to Shadow Point, and he is the new deputy
sheriff in town. While on patrol, he runs into Elle, who is running
away from her vengeful, violent ex-husband. Aidan takes her home to
his family to keep her safe.

Elle
is his, and she never has to run again. This is where she belongs,
here, with him, in this town.

With
the help of Aidan and his loving family, Elle learns that even a
scarred, half-broken, half witch has enough power and magic to
protect herself and her loved ones. With a wish, some magic and a
lot of courage, Elle pushes back and fights for her very own
happily-ever-after.

*
* * * *

CHAPTER
ONE

Elle Redfern went to the door
of her small bakery and flipped the sign to 'Closed'. She sighed and
went to the counter to tally up the accounts for the day. Business
was slow, but hopefully things would pick up soon. This bakery was
tiny, but it was hers. The previous owner was in a hurry to move out
of town and had sold it to her at a price she could afford.

Elle had been in Shadow Point
for less than a month, but she hoped that she would stay here for a
long time. She didn't want to keep moving, running and hiding.
Maybe, just maybe, she could finally make a new life for herself here
in Shadow Point.

Shadow Point was a small town
with a diverse population. There were humans, shifters, vampires,
witches and other paranormals living in Shadow Point. As a half
witch, Elle felt that she would be able to blend right in. She
wouldn't stick out like a sore thumb and no one would pay particular
attention to her. She didn't want to keep looking over her shoulder
for the rest of her life. All she wanted was a peaceful, happy life.

Elle lifted her fingers to
her cheek and felt the scar on her face. The glamor spell she has
cast over herself during the day had worn off. Elle gulped and
muttered another glamor spell under her breath.

Elle knew only the most
rudimentary, simple spells. Her mother was a witch, but she had only
taught Elle some basic glamor spells.

The glamor spell lasted only
a few hours but it allowed her to hide the scar on her face during
the day. The magic wasn't powerful enough to change her appearance.
It didn't change her hair or eye color, or change the shape of her
face and body. It just made her look like how she used to look
before her ex-husband, Skinner, attacked her with a knife.

When Skinner was in jail,
Elle had plucked up the courage to serve him the divorce papers.
This was her only chance to flee. She couldn't let Skinner find her.
She knew that once he got out of jail, Skinner would come after her.

She had been too young and
stupid, and her marriage to Skinner had been a terrible mistake. It
was only after marriage that she saw through all his lies. Skinner
was a half-human, half-paranormal like her. But while Elle accepted
that she would never be as powerful as a full witch, Skinner resented
the fact that he could never shift into his wolf, and wasn't as fast,
strong and deadly as a full wolf shifter.

Maybe it was the wolf in him
that made him so violent and volatile. But Elle's neighbor, Roth,
was an elderly, sweet-natured half bear shifter. Roth couldn't shift
into bear form but he had the heart and courage of a bear. Skinner
was twice the size of the scrawny old man, but Roth had come running
at the sound of Elle's screams and held Skinner off her. If it
hadn't been for Roth, Elle might have died that night instead of
escaping with just a scar on her face.

It wasn't the repressed
animal in Skinner that made him so cruel and brutal. There was
simply no excuse for his violence. The beatings had started soon
after marriage, and she had made excuses for him in the beginning.
She thought he was just frustrated and angry because he couldn't find
a job and wasn't accepted into a prestigious shifter pack or clan.
He'd apologized at first but he wasn't really sorry. Soon the
apologies stopped but the beatings didn't. He just beat her whenever
he felt like it. And because he could.

Elle had used the glamor
spell to hide her bruises from her neighbors and colleagues. She
worked as a waitress in a cafe, but her boss sometimes let her help
with the baking. Working in the kitchen, immersing herself in the
wonderful smell of butter, vanilla, chocolate and sugar made her
forget her troubles and unhappiness for a few blissful hours.
Looking at the lovely muffins, cookies, and other lovely treats that
she helped bake gave her a sense of pride and joy.

But she didn't tell anyone
about her troubles at home. Skinner had warned her and threatened
her. He even spied on her while she worked in the cafe. Maybe he
felt insecure, inferior, indignant for whatever reason. But there
was no reason to hurt her.

Her neighbor, Roth, had
called the police after that last savage attack. Skinner was
arrested and thrown in the slammer for a year. But he was out now.
And Elle knew that he was coming after her for revenge. His jail
term was fair, maybe even inadequate, but Skinner didn't see it that
way.

She was a bloody bitch, a
scheming, vindictive witch for sending him to jail. And he was going
to make her pay.

Elle had moved so many times.
She never stayed in one place long enough to make new friends and
put down roots. She'd been so afraid that Skinner would find her and
hurt her again. But this was not the way to live. She had to try to
start living again, even if it was the hardest thing she had to do.
She had almost forgotten how to live, how to laugh, how to love.

The only thing that kept her
sane was her baking.

This modest little bakery was
her refuge and her dream.

CHAPTER
TWO

Elle wiped down the shelves
and packed the rest of her unsold cookies and cakes into bags. She
would take some home for supper and drop the rest off at the
retirement village on her way home. The residents there loved her
baked treats, and they would help her spread the word. They would
tell their friends about it, and hopefully, more customers would walk
into her bakery.

She switched off the lights
and stood alone in her bakery for a while. She stared out the
display window and saw a few couples strolling past her shop, hand in
hand, whispering, laughing, just enjoying each other. Their faces
looked so happy, so full of hope and love.

Unlike her.

She wasn't sad, she told
herself. She was keeping busy and working hard to rebuild her life.
But the stark reality was that she had never experienced true love.
Her short marriage had been a sham. Nothing about it had been true.
Skinner wasn't the man she thought he was. She hadn't really loved
him, she realized. She had been afraid of him, even at the very
beginning. His manipulation and control had been subtle initially,
and after marriage, his bullying had escalated to deadly threats and
beatings.

Elle sighed heavily.

She didn't want to believe
that she was destined to live the rest of her life alone. Was she so
unlovable, so undesirable?

Surely there was someone out
there for her, someone who could truly love her for who she was, what
she was, half-witch, half broken, scars and all.

It was a romantic notion, but
one she refused to let go of. It gave her something to hope for, to
wish for…

“I wish...” Elle
whispered, gazing up at the silvery moon. “Oh, I wish I could
find true love, and live happily ever after!”

Her laugh sounded sad and
forlorn in her silent bakery. Happily-ever-afters didn't exist.
This wasn't a fairy tale. This was real life, and real life wasn't
perfect and pretty. She should know. She had the scars to prove it.

Elle looked around one last
time and prepared to lock up the premises. She went to the back to
check that everything was ready for tomorrow. She would come in
before the first light of dawn and start baking so that she could
open her shop bright and early for the breakfast crowd. The early
bird catches the worm, and she needed all the worms she could catch.

Elle came back out to the
front of the bakery and felt a cold draft in the shop. She stared at
the door. She hadn't locked it yet but the sign indicated that the
shop was closed. Did someone open the door and walk in a while ago?

Elle was about to step
forward when a hand closed around her throat.

“Ah, my little wife,”
a voice hissed in her ear.

A rough hand clamped over her
mouth before she could scream. Her eyes widened in terror and
disbelief as she stared into Skinner's remorseless, pitiless face.

He looked the same, a little
thinner, but his black eyes still held the same hatred and contempt.

Elle shook her head and made
a muffled sound.

“What's that?”
Skinner said, cocking his head. “Ah, that's right. You're not
my wife anymore. You're the vicious, vindictive ex-wife who put me
in jail. Why would any wife put her own husband in jail? That was a
really hurtful thing you did, Elle. You broke my heart.”
Skinner smiled an ugly smile and spat. “Bitch! I should have
killed you! I should have cut up your heart, instead of just slicing
up your face. But it's not too late. I made some friends in jail
and they have contacts. That's how I found you. They even gave me
some good advice. They told me, don't get mad, Skinner. Get even.”

He laughed and flicked out a
blade.

“Elle, my pretty little
ex-wife, who isn't so pretty anymore.”

He tapped the flat of the
sharp blade against her cheek. “You can fool others with your
glamor now, Elle. But when I'm finished with you, the whole world
will see you as you really are. An ugly woman with an ugly heart.
You are a vile, hideous woman, Elle, and all the glamor spells in the
world won't be able to save you!”

Elle whimpered as she watched
the knife coming closer and closer to her. She struggled angrily.
She was just getting her life on track. Why did Skinner have to
appear? Why couldn't she have her happily-ever-after? Was that too
much to wish for?

Elle gasped at the sudden
realization.

A wish.

She had made a wish earlier.
She wished for her true love...and in a blink, Skinner was here, in
her shop!

No! No!

Skinner wasn't her true love!
He never loved her. He despised her and hated her. There was no
love between them at all.