Sold To The Bears (A BBW Paranormal Romance Book 1) by Amira Rain, Simply Shifters Read Free Book Online Page A

by the loss didn't quite line up with my perception of the bear shifters as cold, cunning murderers.
     
    Mil took a long drink herself while birdsong floated in through the open windows all around the spacious room, then she set her glass on the sun-dappled bar again. "Grant and Adrian. What do they do, you might wonder. What are their 'jobs,' so to speak. Well, they're both involved in the family business, which is making and exporting whiskey. We employ seven hundred men and women of the community at our distillery, and we export our whiskey to cities far and wide. The only cities we don't trade with and export to are a few of the wolf shifter cities we're not friends with, such as Stony Rapids. No offense.
     
    “This family business was started over a hundred years ago, and it's helped make Sun Creek a fairly affluent, comfortable place for all citizens to live. There's a lot of work that goes into the business, though, and it keeps Grant, Adrian, and Samuel very busy. Also, as maybe you've been told, or you just perceived, Grant is the chief and leader of Sun Creek. He runs things, and what he says goes. People respect him. People love him. People even...even I think fear him a bit, though not because he's a violent man or anything like that, at least not when it comes to members of his own community."
     
    I'd been about to take a sip of my drink but froze with the glass halfway to my mouth. She'd said Grant wasn't a violent man when it came to members of his community. Of course, that said to me that he was violent with members of other communities. Maybe he'd led a violent attack on Gray and Estelle. Maybe he'd murdered them himself.
     
    Not seeming to notice my little freeze up, Mil continued on. "Grant is...well, I suppose he's simply intimidating at times. He has a very commanding presence, as I'm sure you've noticed. He's the strongest shifter our community has ever had, both physically, as a fighter in bear form, and mentally as well, I think. He's incredibly tough.
     
    “He's a fierce protector of his people. He's a good man. One who would make an excellent husband. One for a young woman who likes a stoic, quiet man like Grant."
     
    Appearing deep in thought, Mil paused to take a sip of her drink. "He's a man of much action, but very few words at times. Which wasn't always the case. He used to laugh and joke as a kid a lot. Used to talk a lot. But something happened to him when he was about fourteen, I think, and it changed him. It was at that time that he began to become the serious, strong, authoritative man he is today. It was at that time that Samuel began to defer to his leadership a bit, even though Samuel is the older brother by about a decade. I think he knew, and the boys' father, my brother, knew, that Grant was meant to be leader of this community."
     
    "Well, what was that something that happened to Grant that made him quieter and more serious all of a sudden?"
     
    I couldn't deny I was little curious.
     
    Tucking a stray dark curl behind one ear, Mil shrugged. "Nobody knows. He was out exploring the land one night in bear form...nobody even knows for sure where. Miles and miles from here, I think it was said. And when he returned, he returned changed. He didn't speak for days. Just wanted to be left alone. He spent a lot of time by himself in the forests nearby. We don't know if he was attacked by a wolf shifter, or a dragon shifter, or if he just had some strange realization about himself. And at any rate, probably nobody will ever know. He never even told his father, mother, or brothers what had happened. He just came back changed. And that was that."
     
    I had to wonder if that was the first time he'd killed someone.
     
    Mil drained the rest of her drink and set the glass on the bar. "Onto Adrian. For some reason, I feel as though he requires less explaining than Grant. As I'm sure you might have been made aware on your trip here, he's a bit different than Grant. He's very strong as