Loving The Bear: BBW Paranormal Bear Shifter Romance (Gray Bears Book 2) (6 page)

Elle wrung her hands. “I
don't know how...”

Gramma came to her and said,
“It's the opposite of casting a glamor spell. A glamor spell
is about yourself. You focus on yourself and your flaws when you
cast a glamor spell. You're trying to cover up your true self, hide
yourself away from the world. What you're doing now is different.
You're manifesting your wishes and intentions. Magic has to be
worked with pure intentions and a good heart. You cannot interfere
with another's free will. And that is why love spells always
backfire.”

“L-love spells?”
Elle's throat constricted. She had seen her mother cast love spells
on her lovers, but those spells never seemed to have the desired
effect.

“Yes. Come, I think
it's time for a little break.” Gramma went to pour three cups
of tea and pulled out a chair at the kitchen table. “When you
cast a love spell, you are trying to control and manipulate someone
else's emotions,” Gramma explained as she sat down. “You
are twisting someone's affections and intentions, and interfering
with his or her free will. That's not how magic is supposed to
work.”

Ne-ma joined her at the
table. “Do you remember how we cast a love spell once,
Glynda?”

“Ah yes.” Gramma
shook her head. “We were young and foolish, and we thought too
highly of ourselves.”

Ne-ma finished her tea and
put the mug down on the table. “Good intentions, purity of
heart and strength of mind. The basics of good magic,” she
told Elle. “You can do it, Elle. You possess all these
qualities. You just need to have a little faith in yourself.”

Elle gulped down her tea and
looked at the three empty mugs on the table. “I'll wash up the
mugs now. You might want to stand back, way back.”

Gramma and Ne-ma grinned and
went to stand at the kitchen door.

Elle looked at their smiling
faces and felt their love flowing to her. These wonderful women
loved her and had so much faith in her. They wanted her to succeed,
not for their own ego and pride, but to bolster her self-confidence
and make her feel positive and proud of her own capabilities as a
witch. She didn't need glamor to make herself beautiful. She was
beautiful in her own right. Magic should be used to help others, not
to hide herself from the world.

There was so much she could
do, so much good and so much healing. She would start now.

Elle pushed away all her
doubts and negative thoughts and just focused on clearing up the mess
in the kitchen. She wanted the house to be well kept and
uncluttered, clean and comfortable for Aidan and his family. They
had all been so good to her, and she wanted to do a little something
for them.

She spread her arms out and
felt the air swirl around her. The mugs rose from the table and
plonked themselves neatly into the sink. The dirty socks that Mason
and Jackson had stuffed behind the sofa flew up and sailed towards
the washing machine. And the remaining candy wrappers that Jackson
had swept under the carpet marched out from their hiding place and
dropped into the dustbin.

“Oh!” Gramma and
Ne-ma clapped and came to hug her. “You did it! This is real,
pure magic. You did it, Elle! We knew you could do it!”

CHAPTER
TWELVE

Aidan stopped in front of
Elle's little bakery and glared at the reflection of the passers-by
in the shop window. The bakery was closed today, and Aidan wondered
if Skinner had been back during the night.

Was he lurking around the
corner, watching the bakery, waiting for Elle to come in?

Aidan sniffed the air, but he
didn't detect Skinner's scent. He remembered that faint wolf scent
that he'd whiffed in the bakery, and he would use it to track Skinner
down.

Aidan went to the back of the
shop and checked. The premises were still secured. The locks hadn't
been tampered with.

Aidan walked down the length
of the street, his eyes scanning all the faces he passed. There were
many familiar faces, but there were many faces he didn't recognize as
well. The town had changed quite a bit in the few years that he and
Mason had been living in the city. People had moved away, and new
families had moved in. New shops and businesses had sprung up, and
there were a few new shifter packs and clans in town.

Aidan made his way to the old
walk-up building where Elle's rented apartment was. Skinner was
probably keeping an eye on Elle's apartment as well.

Elle had given him the key to
her apartment. He entered her apartment quietly and looked around.
The place was sparsely furnished and dingy, and when he checked the
cupboards, he saw that Elle didn't have a lot of clothes. She didn't
have many things. There were no personal items and decorations on
the tables and shelves, and she had a big duffel bag under her bed.

Elle had hoped to start her
new life here in Shadow Point. She had bought a small bakery, and
was working hard to succeed. But it was clear that at the back of
her mind, perhaps subconsciously, she was preparing to run again.

Her apartment didn't look
lived in at all. It was empty and unadorned. Elle was making it
easy to just throw all her meager belongings into the duffel bag and
leave town if she had to.

Aidan growled.

Elle wasn't leaving. Ever.

This was her home, her town.

The person who had to leave
was Skinner.

And he was one sneaky little
shit, all right. There was no trace of him at all. It was like he
had just slunk into the shadows and vanished.

But shit floats. And Aidan
just knew that the shithead was going to surface again. It was just
a matter of time.

CHAPTER
THIRTEEN

Elle walked into her bakery
with Aidan. She smiled and looked around. Her shop had been closed
for a week now, and she was really glad to be back. She had been
practicing her spells and magic with Gramma and Ne-ma, and Aidan had
insisted that she stay away from her bakery and apartment for a
while.

Well, a full week had passed
and Skinner hadn't appeared. She had enjoyed staying with Aidan and
his brothers, but she had to get back to her life. She had a
business to run, and she was losing money every day. The rent still
needed to be paid, and she was losing customers.

Elle agreed to stay on in the
house, but she wanted to get back to work.

“I won't work late,”
she promised Aidan. “And you can drop by the bakery any time
during the day. You can even escort me home.”

Aidan had tried to dissuade
her but she wouldn't back down. She had mastered the basics of spell
casting and the house was now as clean as a whistle. The whole
garden was blooming with extraordinary, psychedelic flowers. She had
even gone over to Tristan and Alisa's house and practiced her magic
on their garden. Alisa had been thrilled to bits with the lovely,
fragrant blooms covering their lawn.

But she didn't need to use
magic to bake her delicious cakes and cookies. Baking was its own
special kind of magic. It was fun and she felt good making something
from scratch with her own hands. It was honest, wholesome work, and
she loved it.

Aidan combed through the
premises, shining a light into every nook and cranny. Elle shook her
head and laughed. “Skinner's not hiding in a crack in the
wall,” she said. “I think he's gone by now. He's got
out of jail. He can make a fresh start, turn over a new leaf and
have a real shot at happiness. He doesn't care about me. He
shouldn't waste his life.”

She was no longer scared of
Skinner. He was her past, and her past was exactly that. Past, and
no longer relevant in her present. He had tried to hurt her, but she
saw now that he was a very unhappy man. He wasn't satisfied with
what he was, what he had. He wanted to be able to shift fully, be a
real wolf shifter. He wanted to be accepted into a powerful wolf
pack and obtain a high-ranking position within the pack. He craved
power and influence. He was angry and frustrated at himself. And he
vented his anger and frustration on her.

She had feared him before,
but now she pitied him. He was a sad, bitter man, and she hoped that
he would one day find what he was searching for.

She had.

She had found Aidan, her own
growly, protective officer of the law. She let her eyes linger on
her mate. Aidan was hot, and he looked really sexy in his uniform.

Elle started cleaning up the
place so she could get down to baking as soon as possible. She
chased Aidan out of the shop but he continued standing guard in front
of the bakery. The display shelves started filling up with goodies
as she pulled tray after tray out of the oven. She was on a roll.
It felt so good to be back.

Peeking out the window, Elle
smiled and grabbed a muffin. She walked up to her very own stud
muffin and gave him a peck on the cheek. “You'll scare all the
customers away,” she said, pushing the muffin into his hand.
“Go. Go do proper police work. Skulking around a little
bakery isn't proper police work.”

“I'm keeping you safe,”
he growled.

“I am safe.”

A group of teenage girls
stopped to admire the pretty cupcakes in the window. Then they
pushed into the shop, pointing excitedly at the trays.

“See? I'm safe, and I
have customers!” Elle chirped and skipped into the bakery. She
popped her head out the door and shooed him away. “Go. It's a
busy street. I'll keep the door open so people can hear my screams
if anything happens.”

“If anything happens to
you...” Aidan began.

Elle rolled her eyes at him.
“Nothing will happen.”

“Elle...”

“See, the shop door is
open and it will remain open. It's a nice, happy, busy day. I love
you! See you later.” She blew him a kiss. “Go do your
police work now.”

CHAPTER
FOURTEEN

Aidan blew out a breath and
walked away. After a few steps, he stopped and glanced back at her
shop. Elle was busy serving the customers, and chatting and laughing
with them.

She looked so happy to be
back in her bakery. Gramma and Ne-ma were right. He shouldn't stop
her from going back to work. She clearly enjoyed what she was doing.
And he could see that she had become more confident and outgoing.
She was bubbly and chatty, and she opened up fully to his family.

She was candid about her
past, and she no longer tried to hide her scar. It didn't bother her
anymore, and she wasn't ashamed of how she looked, who she was, what
she was. She was a half witch, and her magic would never be as
powerful as a full witch. She could cast simple spells, and that was
good enough for her. Clean-up spells, quick-grow spells, glamor
spells—which she never used anymore. And she could grant
simple wishes.

In fact, she made his wishes
come true every single night.

The thought of having her
again tonight made Aidan smile as he finished his muffin in two bites
and got into his cruiser.

His brothers were right.

He was one lucky bastard.

CHAPTER
FIFTEEN

Elle looked up as someone
walked into her bakery. She started when the man turned and pushed
the door shut. She had kept the door to the bakery open all day, and
the delicious smell of baked treats seemed to have attracted an
endless stream of customers into the shop.

“Excuse me,” she
began. “But would you mind...”

The man removed his large hat
and walked soundlessly towards her.

“Skinner,” she
breathed.

“Yes. It's so hard to
get you alone these days. You're a very busy woman, Elle,” he
said, his lips curving deceptively. Skinner leaned against the
counter, nodding and smiling, so that anyone peering through the
display window would only see a friendly customer chatting with the
nice bakery owner.

Elle swallowed and said
levelly, “What do you want, Skinner?”

Skinner's face twisted as he
pretended to inspect his nails, nails which would never lengthen and
sharpen into a wolf's claws.

“I want a lot of
things,” he said. “I want vengeance. I want you to pay
for what you did to me, Elle.”

Elle straightened her
shoulders and looked him straight in the eye. “And what did I
do to you, Skinner?”

Before he could answer, she
pointed at the long scar down her face. “Look at this. See
this scar? You gave it to me.”

“You deserved it,
bitch!” he hissed.

“No I didn't. I didn't
deserve what you did to me. I never deserved any of the beatings and
abuse. I don't deserve to be treated like a sad, worthless thing,”
Elle answered.

Skinner snarled but she
didn't back down. She had never stood up to him in the past but now
she would. She should have spoken up a long time ago. Being meek
and weak and keeping mum didn't solve anything. It made things worse
and encouraged him to keep hurting and humiliating her. She wouldn't
be silent anymore.