Bear's Gold (Erotic Shifter Fairy Tales) by Yvette Hines Read Free Book Online

night and by the time he’d
rounded up a large group of Bear-males from the county the wolves hadn’t made
it through to the next week. Those that didn’t die were severely injured and ran
away with their tails tucked between their legs.
    Two years ago, he hadn’t
participated in the winter festival to find a mate, because it was customary
after the loss of a spouse to wait a year. He had waited an additional year. Were-bears
mated for life, death was the only thing that separated them.
    Tomorrow, Riley would be gone and
Friday he’d find a new mate. Someone he could depend on to protect and help
raise his cubs.
    Back on all fours, he lumbered back
to his house. Only a couple hours remained before sunrise and he needed to
shower and get to bed. Bernie and Aubrey may sleep deep, but were up with the
sun like most young Were-bears.

Chapter
Four
     
    Riley stretched her limbs as the
morning sun beamed into her face; too bright. After sleep filled with
dreams of a black bear and golden-brown bear and a sexy as hell man, she wanted
more shut eye. She pulled the blanket over her head. What time was it? Blindly, she stretched her right arm out to collect her cell phone from her
nightstand. Her arm waved around in open space. Frowning, she shoved the covers
off her face and looked toward her stand. However, it wasn’t there.
    What the hell? Not only was her
nightstand not where it normally was, she wasn’t in her friend’s apartment at
all. Rolling onto her back, she stared at the room around her. Wood slats were
everywhere: bed, ceiling, floor, and walls.
    “A cabin.” As the words left her
mouth, everything came flooding into her mind like a tsunami. Escape. Accident.
Light. Forest. Chase. House. Theo. Theo!
    His name echoed inside her head,
causing her body to shudder in memory. She had believed the pictures moving
through her mind as she slept had been an erotic dream brought on by
exhaustion. She’d been so tired and stressed in dealing with her ex. But that
had not been the case. The throbbing soreness of her body and especially her
sex assured her it had all been real. Fierce and wonderfully real, her body
taunted.
    Dropping back onto the mattress into
sheets that smelled of her and Theo, unrestrained passion, she groaned.
    “This can’t be happening.” She just
got out of a relationship months ago, and the last thing she needed was to find
herself falling into another one with a man she didn’t know. Why?
    She questioned herself. Not, why not
date. That was clear to her. But, why did she even allow things to go as far as
they did. In her life, she’d never had a one night stand. Never slept with a
guy before three months. They were hard rules she lived by. Those self
boundaries had driven her ex crazy in the first few months of their
relationship, but he’d dated her and tricked her into believing he was the real
deal. It hadn’t been until they moved in together that she’d seen the true
Fred. In a rude and blatant fashion. That had been eight months ago and she’d
been attempting to get him out of her life ever since.
    Now she had this problem on hand.
Theo Kodiak was a forest man who lived in a county in the middle of nowhere. He
had probably been lonely and happy to get some. Shaking her head, she wondered
how she’d let him know she had to leave.
    “It’s been fun, but I’m a city
girl.” Or maybe, “Hey, stud, if you’re ever in my hometown, look me up.”
    Shoving upright, she wasn’t looking
forward to any conversation. If she didn’t need him to take her into town, she
would sneak out and avoid the discussion all together.
    She saw her clothes neatly folded at
the foot of the bed. It warmed her heart to see that he’d taken the time to
finish her clothes and bring them to her. Trying to stay away from him and
being exhausted from her ordeal, she’d completely forgotten that she was
supposed to move her clothes into the dryer, let alone get them out.
    She got up. Looking down at