Releasing the Bear: BBW Paranormal Shapeshifter Romance (The Callaghan Clan Book 2) by Meredith Clarke, Ashlee Sinn Read Free Book Online

to be my mate?” her voice trembled with that question.
    I snapped my head in her direction, only to see the pain on her face. It broke my heart. Reaching over, I grabbed her hand. “Of course I do.”
    “My uncle wants to check the records to see if a wolf shifter has ever mated with another shifter species before.” She squeezed my fingers.
    “Why?”
    “To determine if he can give his approval or not.” She looked out over my shoulder at Kalgin Island on our left. “My culture doesn’t like to break tradition. I’m an alpha female and my pack leader is supposed to choose my mate for me. In fact,” she shifted in her seat again so that she could watch my reaction, “he’d wanted me to mate with Seth.”
    Anger surged. My bear roared underneath my skin begging me to let him free. “The bouncer?”
    “Yes.”
    “Did Seth know that?” I tried to redirect the emotions by squeezing the steering wheel so hard it creaked under my grip.
    “I don’t think so,” she said. “But it doesn’t matter. My wolf chose you. She chose you weeks ago, it just took me a while to realize it.” Scarlett’s hand squeezed my thigh. “What will Brandt say?”
    I shook my head. “I have no idea.”
    “Does he suspect?”
    “He asked why I smelled like a wolf this morning.”
    Scarlett laughed. “He knows.”
    “Yeah, probably.”
    She slid over into the middle seat next to me and rested her head on my shoulder. She smelled like fur and incense. A scent both my bear and I committed to memory. “What are we going to do?”
    “Tell them to fuck off if they have a problem with us?”
    She laughed again. “That sounds like something I would say.”
    I nestled my cheek against the top of her head and smiled. “Yeah, it definitely sounds more like you.”
    Scarlett slapped my thigh and made a huffing sound. “Thanks a lot.”
    We’d just entered Chugach National Forest and that gave me an idea. “Feel like a detour?”
    “Hmm?” she mumbled.
    My bear needed to run, both to let off some steam and to see what his mate was made out of. I hoped Scarlett would be up for the challenge. “I know a spot. Hold on.”
    A few hundred feet up the road, I turned off the highway and onto a dirt path used only for off-road vehicles. Switching my truck into four-wheel drive, we bounced along the road as it led us deeper into the thick woods.
    Scarlett sat up in her seat and beamed with a wide grin plastered to her face. She reached over and let her window down, brining in the scent of pines and the smell of her excitement. The human in me wanted to pull the truck over right now and throw her into my lap, but the bear wanted to be free of this confined space.
    Leaning out of the window, Scarlett closed her eyes and let the wind blow through her hair. I couldn’t help but wonder if that was a wolf thing and the realization that I knew so little about her shifter culture thrilled me. That meant we would have so much to talk about and learn from each other. We could converse for years. Something I’d never shared with anyone else.
    Driving over bumps, puddles, and small logs in the way, we both enjoyed the wilderness just beyond the reach of our vehicle. Several miles in, I found the spot I’d been looking for. Pulling of the small road and driving through the meadow, I parked the truck underneath a circle of pines that looked as though they’d been planted that way. Blocking us from the road, we now had the privacy both the human and bear wanted.
    Scarlett looked at me with mischief in her eyes. Reaching forward, while still watching me, she took off her boots and lifted her tank top over her head. When I cleared my throat and shifted in my seat to move my boner, her laugh tickled my skin with desire. She pushed her hips up into the air and shimmied out of her shorts. Left only in her bra and panties, her grin grew wider.
    “Come on. Isn’t this what you wanted?” she teased.
    I bent toward her, needing to kiss those lips and her