Beary Overdue (Polar Bliss 1) by Ruby Shae Read Free Book Online Page B

a step back.
    “How many women have you slept with this week? Or today?” she asked, not wanting the answer. “It’s too late for us.”
    “It’s not too late,” he said. “Those women meant nothing to me.”
    “It’s not just the women,” she said. “It’s everything… It’s you.”
    “Honeypie—”
    “Please don’t call me that,” she pleaded.
    “Jillian,” he started again. “When a shifter loses his mate, his world ends. I nearly died when you left town. I know I’ve made some mistakes, but everything I’ve done has been to try and stay alive.”
    “No,” she said firmly. “You haven’t been merely staying alive all of these years. You’ve been breeding anger and resentment to try and prove something, but the only thing you’ve proved is the Reid I loved is long gone.”
    “That’s not true,” he said. “I’m still the same man.”
    “The bar, the fights, the women, the drinking,” she said, ticking the things off her fingers. “You think those things make you look cool, or successful, and maybe they do to some, but to the people who love you? They only make you look like an asshole. You’ve pulled away from your family, you treat your employees like shit, and Riley told me what you did to her in Polar Bliss . I could forgive the hair and beard if you resembled my Reid at all, but unfortunately, that’s not the worst of it. When was the last time you shifted?”
    His answering glare told her everything she needed to know. He hadn’t. Not in a long time.
    “That’s what I thought,” she said, sadly.
    His throat worked, as if searching for the right response, but silence stretched between them as they seemed to face-off against each other.
    Finally, his face softened in defeat.
    “I’d better go,” he said, turning to leave.
    “I would have stayed, you know,” she said behind him. “If the Reid from seven years ago had asked me to say, I would have stayed and considered myself the luckiest girl in the world.”
    He nodded once and left the room, without looking back. When the door clicked quietly behind him, she knew she would never see him again, and tears streamed down her face.
    The urge to chase after him and take it all back was strong, but she ignored it and said a silent goodbye to the only man she’d ever loved.

Chapter Six
     
    One month later…
     
    Reid walked to the edge of town in his bear form, stood on a snow mound hidden between the trees, and shook out his fur. The Dirty Bear was on the other side of the road, and though it was the middle of the day, he noted two cars in the parking lot. He’d completely disappeared for a little over a month, but Hayden and Hayley had kept his business going.
    He remembered back to five years ago when the two ginger-haired siblings had arrived in town and answered his ad for help. Their past was a mystery, but that hadn’t mattered. They were polar bear shifters, like his family, and they’d needed a break. A lot had changed since then.
    He’d trusted Hayden almost immediately, and while Jillian had been right—he had treated the male, and his sister, like shit—they’d formed a strange friendship. Hayden had disagreed with most of his choices, but the man had stuck by him even when he hadn’t warranted it.
    Hayden and Hayley deserved something better…and so did he.
    Four weeks ago, when he’d walked out of Jillian’s motel room, he’d been swamped with emotion. Anger, pain, and regret had been at the forefront, but there was more. He’d longed for love, happiness and kindness—for the good man he once was—and he’d needed them from his family and friends, as well as his mate.
    The multitude of emotions had nearly sent him over the edge, and he might have done something stupid if it hadn’t been for his bear. For the first time in seven years, he listened to his animal and shifted.
    He left his car in the motel parking lot and walked into the woods. He walked until his legs would no longer carry him,