Bear Mechanic: BBW Paranormal Bear Shifter Romance by Zoe Chant Read Free Book Online Page A

together for their own various and sometimes secret reasons, and they had some very different and strange stories to tell. Not to mention they were shifters. Shifters sometimes experienced life in very different ways from regular people, and they didn’t always get along.
    But any fears he had had been allayed. She’d accepted Will and Cam’s reticence with grace, even though he could tell she was confused and curious about them. Tyler had been outrageous, as usual, even worse than usual. They were going to have words at some point in the near future. But Elise had shaken it off and made it clear who she was there with.
    They had taken to her like a house on fire, too. At first he’d thought they were making the effort for his sake, but Noah couldn’t remember the last time Gabe had been so chatty.
    Not that he was worried so much about Elise’s likability; if someone didn’t like her, he thought, the problem was with them.
    She’d gone back upstairs to change into something a little plainer. He was planning to show her around the shop, and the oil and grime could be rough on clothes.
    She was probably changing right now. Noah allowed himself the luxury of imagining the scene while he waited.
    Elise had such creamy pale skin, dotted with the cutest freckles. And not just on her face. It was a shame she covered them up so much. He wanted to take his time next time, discovering and lavishing love on every freckle that accented her generous body.
    She had looked so perfect in his bed that his heart had almost stopped. With her in it, the bed was the perfect size. When he was alone, it was a cavern that left him tossing and turning all night.
    It didn’t look like it belonged with the rest of his things, either. His suite over the shop was starkly simple, almost embarrassingly so. He hadn’t minded that fact when he was the only one to see it, but Elise’s presence had reminded him how empty and plain it was. He almost cringed.
    Bears didn’t usually build their dens before meeting their mates. Tradition said to do it after, together. But he had built the bed beforehand out of sturdy oak and wrought iron in his own design. He told himself the act of building it was boredom, his hands itching for something to do when he wasn’t working. But now he knew it was a shot in the dark—a shot of hope, a desire for someone to fill the glaring gap in his life, for someone to hold and protect. For a mate.
    He knew that mate was Elise.
    His crew had noticed the change in him right away, when he’d gone down to get Elise coffee in bed.
    Gabe had given him a thoughtful look as he went for the coffee and said only, “You’re in a good mood.”
    “Yeah, I guess.”
    But it hadn’t stopped there. Will was watching him with that quietly perceptive way that he had, the one that always made Noah feel like his most intimate secrets were being bared.
    Tyler had crowed immediately from his place at the stovetop, “Someone got laid!”
    “What are you—” Noah had said, then seen all the little smirks around the room, and changed tactics. “Shut up,” he'd said halfheartedly, and started to put together a tray.
    “Are you making her a breakfast tray?” Tyler had, poking the eggs with his spatula.
    “What if I am?”
    “Why so defensive?” Tyler had a truly obnoxious grin on his face. “Is she your maaaate ?”
    “I’m not defensive! Give me some of that,” said Noah, nodding to the eggs Tyler was scrambling.
    Tyler jerked the spatula away before Noah could grab it. “No way. Is she your mate?”
    If there had been any justice in the world, Noah’s glare would have burned holes in the brash tiger shifter. As it was, Tyler, being Tyler, just laughed the threat off. Noah’s bear had growled, and he’d even let out a bear-shaped rumble before catching himself.
    “Wait, is she?” asked Gabe from the table.
    Of course he’d interrupt his brooding for this, thought Noah darkly.
    “I didn’t give her the mark, if