A Date For The Bear: BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance (Bear Brides Book 2) (4 page)

He wouldn't encourage that
burning, maddening attraction between them. Nothing would come of
this. A relationship with a human woman would crash and burn. It
might start out strong, promising and passionate, but soon enough,
the tantrums, demands, complaints and comparisons would come. The
woman would start demanding bigger, more expensive gifts, so she
could show off to her friends. After all, she was dating a Jameson
bear, one of the most eligible, successful bachelors in Moonstone
Creek.

Tony didn't want a human
female for a mate.

And Terri...she was sweet.
She didn't deserve a snarling, surly werebear like him.

This—was for the best.

“Second Avenue, yes?”
he gritted out.

Terri sniffed and refused to
look at him.

“Your address,”
Tony repeated. “It's Second Avenue. Am I right?”

She gave a curt nod.

Narrowing his eyes, Tony
turned out of the highway and swung into the city. He would drive
her home, watch her walk away from him and he would leave.

She wasn't the one for him.

Keep telling yoursel
f
that, Tony-boy.

Tony snarled. Shit! Now he
couldn't even get her voice out of his messed up head.

Terri undid her seat belt as
Tony pulled up in front of her condo. Closing her eyes briefly, she
released a deep, shuddering sigh.

She didn't claim to
understand men, but Tony was a complete and utter mystery unto
himself. He seemed to crave and want her one minute, and the next
minute he was snarling and snapping at her like she'd committed a
heinous crime by touching his forearm.

There was something between
them. She could feel it. But Tony didn't seem to want to
acknowledge it. In fact, he seemed furious about it. He seemed to
despise himself for being attracted to her.

Terri tossed her hair over
her shoulder. Well, he could go stew in his own juices.

She didn't have time for
moody, cranky men. Even if he was the only man who made her feel
alive in a long time.

“Well, here I am. Home
sweet home,” Terri announced jauntily, stepping onto the curb.
Tony retrieved her large backpack from the boot and handed it to her.
He stood beside the car and watched her quietly.

Terri turned and waved.
“Thanks for the ride. I...I'll see you around.”

Tony nodded, his eyes burning
into her. She sensed that he wanted to tell her something, but all
he said was, “Goodbye, Terri.”

“Um, bye, Tony.”

With a brief flash of brake
lights, his car disappeared round the corner. Terri turned and
trudged towards her condo, trying not to feel disappointed. Mumbling
and grumbling, she walked right into a hard, masculine shoulder.

“Oh, Silas!” she
exclaimed. “What a surprise! What are you doing here?”

“I was waiting for you,
Terri,” Silas replied with a thin smile.

Terri frowned. “Waiting
for me? Why?”

His smile was still stretched
across his face but there was no warmth or humor in it. “Because
you're my girlfriend.”

“I am?”

“Yes. I was worried
about you.”

Terri blinked at him,
speechless. Finally, she said as gently as she could, “Silas,
you're a nice guy. We've been on a few dates and it's been fun. But
I'm not sure I'm ready to commit to a relationship. My work is crazy
as you know. I have to travel with my boss, and I'm frequently out
of town. It's just not...”

“You are my girlfriend,
Terri. We've been together long enough and we get along fine. You
said so yourself. I've tried not to rush you or pressure you. I've
given you enough time. You know I want you, but you've been giving
all sorts of excuse not to sleep with me. It's not right. I've
waited long enough. I will have you, Terri.” Silas grabbed
her arm and yanked her to him.

“Hey! What do you
think you're doing? Let go of me!” Terri struggled but Silas
gripped her tighter. She felt the tips of his claws digging into her
arm and she cried out. “Ouch! Silas! You're hurting me!
Your claws...”

“I've been very patient
with you, Terri. More patient than necessary,” Silas growled.

“Necessary?”
Terri squawked. “What the hell...!”

“Stop fighting me,
Terri!” Silas snarled into her face. “I can be nice. I
can be nasty.” He gave an exaggerated sigh. “It could
have been good for you, Terri. But you had to choose the hard way.”

“I didn't choose
anything!” she shrieked, hitting him over the head with her
backpack.

Silas tore her backpack out
of her hand and flung it into the bushes. “But I choose you.
I'm going to Turn you. Then I'll breed you.”

“What!” Terri
gaped at him. “What are you talking about? You're not turning
me into anything. And you're definitely not going to breed me!”
she spat. “Breed! Oh my, have we gone back in time? Are
women cows or sows? And I thought you were a nice guy.” Terri
let out a high-pitched laugh. “Why are all the nice ones
crazy? I should have stuck with the bad boys.”

Silas's face was contorted in
fury. She could see his fangs elongating as his face wavered between
human and bear. He lunged forward, his jaws widening.

Terri screamed as she felt
his fangs pierce her neck. Silas bit her savagely, ripping her skin
and biting down the side of her neck. Terri tried to fight back, but
she was no match for the bear. She felt thick, stiff fur sprouting
from his arms as he held her down, and his teeth continued tearing
into her neck.

Terri looked up, her vision
blurring rapidly. Her only witnesses were the unlit streetlamps. It
was early evening, but no one was about at this time. Her condo was
situated at the corner of a quiet street, and the residents liked the
privacy. Everyone was cozily ensconced at home, enjoying the
remaining hours of their Sunday before the start of another manic
work week.

Terri stared round in horror
and dismay. The streetlamps couldn't come to her aid. She was going
to be mauled to death by a crazy, sex-deprived werebear whom she'd
stupidly mistaken for a nice guy.

Terri tried her best to
scratch and kick the brute despite the excruciating pain. This
bear's bite was definitely worse than his roar. She'd never heard
him roar, not even once.

She jerked when she heard a
thunderous, ferocious roar. The roar didn't come from Silas. It
came from somewhere behind her. The roar sounded again, a sound of
raw, violent fury. Silas threw her to the ground, and Terri looked
up to see two huge bears clash above her, one white, one brown.

Terri scrambled away,
hiccuping a delirious, demented laugh.

Now she had to contend with
not one, but two ravenous bears. They seemed to be fighting over
her, fighting over their food.

Terri rolled away and tried
to get to her feet, but the ground seemed to be rocking and swaying,
and she had no way of telling which way was up.

She fell back to the ground
and tried to crawl away from the battling bears. She wasn't going to
be any bear's snack if she could help it.

She looked around frantically
for her bag. If she could reach her phone, she could dial for help.
She cursed viciously when she remembered that Silas had thrown her
backpack over the bushes. He was a right little shit!

Why couldn't she meet a nice,
normal guy for once? She had a well-paying job, had a nice place,
was fun to be around. She thought she would stick to dating sweet,
nice guys, but all the seemingly nice guys wanted something from her.
Sex, money, a free place to crash. She had dated a bad boy once.
He had been bad to the core. Bad for her heart and bad for her
financial and mental health. He had cleaned out her bank account and
vanished.

So Terri had sworn off bad
boys. She dated only nice, clean-shaven, well-behaved, polite young
men. But she seemed to attract freeloaders or guys who were looking
for a sugar mummy. She had dumped them like yesterday's trash, but
being an infernal optimist, she had kept on looking. Looking, and
dating, and getting bitten.

Terri put her hand to her
neck. Why the hell did Silas bite her? She'd known that he was a
bear shifter, but she hadn't known that he was a man-eater. It was
illegal for shifters in the city to prey on humans. She was so going
to report him.

She glanced over her shoulder
just in time to see the white bear turn tail and run. There were
splotches of blood on his white fur, and he was limping as he
stumbled away.

Terri turned to face the
growling brown bear. The magnificent creature stared at her with a
pair of familiar brown eyes, and stalked silently towards her.

Oh shit! The victor had come
to claim the spoils of his battle. He had come to finish his meal.
Bloody au gratin Terri.

The bear crouched at her side
and in two blinks shifted swiftly to human form.

Terri stared up at Tony's
face and gurgled a hysterical laugh. “Oh, it's you. This just
isn't my night, is it?”

Tony grabbed Terri's shoulder
and tilted her head to the side. Her wound was still bleeding, and
he could see the jagged teeth marks on her neck. He snarled and
gathered her swiftly into his arms. She made a small unhappy sound
but she was in no state to protest.

Tony set off at a dead run.
His car was just round the corner. He had stopped his car at a
street corner and waited. He didn't know what he was waiting for.
All he knew was that his bear wouldn't allow him to leave. His bear
had stomped on the brake pedal and stubbornly refused to budge.

He had been sitting in his
idling car for God knows how long when he heard Terri's screams. In
a heartbeat, he had bolted from his car and raced back to her block.

What he saw wrenched his bear
out of his skin and sent him flying towards Terri in absolute rage
and pain.

A fucking polar bear was
tearing into Terri's neck, biting down desperately, indiscriminately.
Tony recognized the angle of the bite immediately. The bastard was
trying to Turn her, biting directly into her vein to inject his
shifter cells into her blood stream. He was trying to Turn her into
a bear shifter against her will.

Tony reached his car and
placed Terri in the passenger seat with infinite care. Her eyes had
rolled back and she was starting to shiver. Her words were slurred
and unintelligible.

Tony revved the engine and
sped through the city streets. He was running out of time. From her
symptoms, Tony knew that the shifter cells had taken hold in her
body. Her human immune system would try to fight back, and she would
develop a raging fever in the next few hours or so. Tony shot a
panicked glance at the festering wound on her neck. It wasn't a
clean, sharp bite. Terri must have tried to fight him off.

Tony had knocked the bastard
off her before he could finish what he'd started. The Turning bite
wasn't complete. He had managed to infuse her blood with some
shifter cells, but it wasn't enough. Terri wouldn't be able to Turn
fully. Her body would be in turmoil, struggling to Turn and fighting
the Turn. She would be torn apart from the inside, bleeding from
every orifice. It would be an agonizing, gruesome death.

No! He would not let her
die.

He would rush her back to his
clan. Someone would be able to help her. Some of the bears in the
Nightfire clan had wise, old grandparents and great-grandparents.
Surely one of them would know the ancient art of healing a
half-Turned human.

“Please...” Tony
breathed raggedly as he sped along the highway. He loved speed and
racing, but he had never ever driven so fast in his whole life. He
was now racing against time, against fate.

When Terri curled into a ball
and started sobbing, Tony placed a trembling hand very gently on her
back. His touch seemed to soothe her and she stopped crying. He
knew that she was still in pain, but at least she didn't sound so
scared and helpless.

“T-Tony...”
Terri's voice was weak, barely a whisper.

“Yes.”

“W-where...are...w-we
going?” She was doing her best to focus and stay conscious.

“Back to Moonstone
Creek.”

“Wha—? Am
I...going to d-die?” she whispered.

“No.”

“W-what's
happening...t-to me?”

Tony didn't have the heart to
lie to her. “You've been bitten, Terri.”

Despite her suffering, she
snorted at him. “I know that!”

“It's not an ordinary
bite. It's a Turning bite.”

“Huh?”

“He wanted to Turn you
into a werebear like him,” Tony spat in rage. “Who is
he?”

“Silas.”

“Is he your boyfriend?”
Tony snarled.

She gagged. “No!”

Terri fell silent. Tony
never took his foot off the accelerator. Neither did he take his
eyes off the road, but he was aware of every movement, every little
sound she made. At the moment, she didn't even seem to be breathing.