Who Bears Wins: BBW Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance (Return To Bear Bluff Book 4) Read online

  Chapter Three – Caleb

  “Here,” he said, pulling a grate to one side. “I thought they might have sealed this up by now, but it’s still accessible. Let’s go see if he’s in here.”

  “Are you sure?” she asked, looking into the darkness.

  “Absolutely,” he answered, taking her hand and leading her into the narrow gap. The very narrow gap. Last time he had come down here, he had been a young teen; it was a time before he grew hairs on his chest and muscles that could lift a small car.

  “You are not going to fit,” she said, as his clothes brushed along the walls. As he held his breath, trying to squeeze further along, he knew Zoe was right, he wasn’t going to fit.

  “OK, back up, you go in and I’ll wait out here.” He hated the thought of her going in alone, but there was nothing for it.

  “Where exactly am I heading?” she asked, when they were back outside. She looked nervous, her arms folded in front of her chest. Whether to ward him off, or for some other reason, he wasn’t sure, but he had to know.

  “Are you OK?” he asked.

  “Sure.” She looked back toward the narrow gap. “Small spaces aren’t exactly my thing. Ridiculous when you consider…” She pressed her lips together—lips he longed to kiss.

  He cleared his throat. “Consider what?”

  “Nothing. What I mean is, I’m not exactly on the slim and slender side, am I?” she asked, indicating her curvy body.

  She should not have brought his attention to her curves. Now there was another part of his anatomy that was growing bigger. A part that would not help with finding her brother, but would lead to distracting thoughts that he longed to make reality.

  “You’ll fit. It’s only this first part that’s narrow: after around ten feet, it opens up wider. Then you go left and follow it around.” He paused. “There is a section you have to crawl through.”

  “Great.” She took her phone out and looked at it, as if willing it to ring. Then she put it back in her pocket. “I wish he’d just call.”

  “We could always look somewhere else,” Caleb offered.

  “No. I need to look; he talked about this place. So, there’s a chance he’s here.” She walked to the entrance, her face pale and her breathing shallow, but she controlled it. “OK. I can do this.”

  She moved forward, into the darkness, and turned sideways to slip between the narrow walls. He heard her breathing coming in short, sharp gasps, before she reined in her fear and it returned to normal, getting further and further away. Which he hated: she should be here by his side, not leaving him before they even kissed.

  He shook his head. It was selfish of him to think about what he wanted when she was searching for her brother. He knew one thing for sure: when they did find him, Caleb was going to give him a talking-to and set him straight on how he was treating both Zoe, and Dylan, who was trying to help him.

  Moving closer to the entrance, he peered inside. He couldn’t see anything, but he did hear something. The sound of a ringtone echoing around the walls, then her voice as she answered.

  “Hello… He’s there?”

  Caleb stood up, relieved. This could only mean one thing. Her brother had been found, and they could get over chasing him around and get down to some important business, such as when she was going to go on a date with him. He grinned. He was more interested in what came after, but a date would get them in the right mood.

  Fool, he was already in the mood. Maybe they could go back to her place right now and he could get this mating bond out of his system.

  “He’s turned up at the yard.” Zoe almost ran out of the darkness, shuddering and turning back to look at where she’d come from. Was it his imagination, or had the air become electrically charged. Had she shifted? Damn, if she had, he’d missed it. It also meant she was not a bear, unless she was a very small bear. Her voice cut into his thoughts. “They say face your fears, but they are wrong.”

  Caleb lifted the grate and put it back into place, making sure it was firmly attached before moving to her side, needing to be close to her. “Why don’t we go grab some coffee? It’ll help calm you down.” That counted as a date, right?

  In Caleb’s mind, his bear shook his massive grizzly head in dismay.

  “Coffee?” She brushed the dirt off her clothes. “I have to go and see Tony.”

  “Hey, wait.” He put his arm in front of Zoe to stop her walking off, and she didn’t look too pleased about it. He didn’t blame her; he wasn’t usually the kind of man to try to be controlling, but she didn’t seem to realize how important this was. Neither of them could carry on with their lives as if nothing had changed.

  It had changed, and he, for one, wanted it to change some more. A lot more.

  She backed up a step. “I appreciate your help. I’ll take you back to the yard where you can pick up your car, and then I can talk to Tony.”

  “Isn’t he old enough to look after himself?” Caleb asked, fighting not to come over all caveman, or cave bear, and drag her off to his den in the mountains.

  “What do you know about him?” she countered.

  “I know he’s old enough to be out at night on his own. I know he’s old enough for Dylan to have given him a job.”

  “He is old enough, although he doesn’t act it,” she agreed. “It’s just… I’ve always looked out for him. I need this to work—one more incident like this and Dylan will fire him. His project is for people who want to work, who want to make a future for themselves.”

  “And what about your future?” Caleb asked.

  “You mean our future?” She made it sound as if he were being selfish.

  “No, I didn’t mean our future, not in that way. But you moved here with him. Which means you gave up whatever life you had before. So Tony could have a second chance.”

  “Your point?” Her body language softened and he knew he had found a way in, not that he wanted to get under her skin for any reason other than to help her.

  “What is my point?” he murmured, trying to put it into words. He was usually good at articulating his thoughts, but with his mate so close, there was just too much distraction. “OK. You are treating him like a kid. Try treating him like an adult.”

  “He doesn’t behave like one.”

  “Have you tried letting him?” Caleb asked.

  “I can’t take the risk of letting him fall.”

  “Sometimes that’s exactly what a man needs.” He was fighting not to act on what this man needed. There was no way he was going to make her life more difficult, which meant he had to be supportive, and not act on his primal instincts. But the rise and fall of her breasts was impossible to ignore.

  “Then what am I supposed to do?” she asked.

  “Let me handle it,” he said, a sudden spark of inspiration hitting him.

  “You?” She didn’t sound convinced. “I don’t know you. How do I know you aren’t going to get him into more trouble?”

  He took her hand and placed it over his heart. “Because from the instant I saw you, I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life making you happy. To do that, I have to help you straighten out Tony.”

  “Is this how you think you’re going to get me into bed?” she asked, but she didn’t pull her hand away.

  “No. I have other ways to get you into my bed.” He winked at her, and was gratified when the right side of her mouth twitched, but she didn’t allow herself to smile. “Let me go and talk to Tony. I’ll see if Dylan has some work for me, and Tony can come on the job with me.”

  “You would do that?” she asked.

  “For you. And Tony. I never had a brother or sister, but if I did… Let’s just say I’m humbled by the way you watch out for him.”

  She gave a brief nod of her head, and he pulled out his phone and called Dylan, happy he had taken one small step forward. He only hoped that by the end of a day with Tony, he wouldn’t have taken ten steps back. He was not going to stand for any crap, not for anyone, even his mate.
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  Chapter Four – Zoe

  How was she supposed to keep him at arm’s length when he was willing to do this for her? She wasn’t. It was a simple as that. Bonded mates weren’t supposed to stay at arm’s length. Caleb was supposed to be in her arms and her heart. Zoe had to find a way to let him in. Both into her life and into her heart.

  Zoe tried not to be so tough on herself. She’d already agreed to let him into her life, by allowing him to help Tony. However, to let him into her heart, to let him touch her soul—that was a hard thing to ask.

  She drove back to Dylan’s yard, quietly cursing Tony for whatever trouble he had got himself into this time. Dylan had mentioned something about a black eye, which meant he must have been in a fight.

  Not again, she thought, as she pushed the gas pedal down a little further.

  “You might want to slow down some. We don’t want to meet something big coming the other way and end up in a ditch,” Caleb said.

  “Sorry. I’m worried about Tony, that’s all. Dylan mentioned a black eye. Which he did not have the last time I saw him.” She eased off the gas, and the car slowed, but she felt her impatience boiling up inside her.

  “I’ll ask him about it. Once I get to know him.” They were close to the yard, and Zoe wanted to drive straight in there and demand answers from Tony. She hadn’t moved to bear country for him just so he could throw away this second chance.

  “Will you let me know he’s OK?” she asked, pulling up outside the yard.

  “Sure, give me your number, and I’ll text you, or call you when I can.” She read out her number, and he added it to his contacts, before looking at her again with an expression that said she wasn’t going to like what he had to say. “One more thing. A condition, I suppose. What he tells me must be in confidence. I can’t ask him to trust me, and then let him down by telling you.” He winced at his own words. “That was hard to say.”

  She cocked her head and looked at him, looking deeper than his big muscles, and his dirty blond hair, and his too-handsome face. Caleb would not look out of place on one of those calendars where male models tried to look as if they really did an honest day’s work on a ranch or a sawmill. Past that, into his blue-gray eyes, she saw a man of honor. A man whom she could trust, not because they were mates, but because that was the kind of man he was, with everyone.

  “I understand. And I think it’s better that way, for sure. The only thing I want to ask you…” This was tougher to say out loud than it was in her head. “I don’t want you to tell him we’re mates.”

  “Zoe, I’m not so sure that’s a thing we can keep from him.”

  “He doesn’t have to know. Does he? If Dylan hasn’t said anything, would it be too hard to keep this between us?”

  “I don’t want this to come back and bite either of us.”

  “I know.” She put her face in her hands, and took a deep breath. “I don’t want Tony to get hurt. But I know for sure, if you tell him you are my mate, he will not open up to you. He’ll probably refuse to work with you point blank, because he’ll think you are spying on him.”

  Caleb looked out of the window for a second, and then back at Zoe, and said, “OK. For now, but as soon as the time is right, he has to know.”

  “OK. And I promise, if he gets upset when he finds out, I’ll tell him I made you swear to me and the mate bond wouldn’t let you tell him.”

  “Is that a thing?” he asked. “With the mate bond?”

  “I have no idea.” She looked thoughtful. “But if you want to test it, I could make you swear not to tell anyone. Ever.”

  He leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek, his movement so fast she didn’t have time to move out of the way. “As long as you don’t make me promise to forget about the whole thing, then I don’t care how much of a secret you want me to keep it.”

  “Thank you, Caleb.”

  “If you have dinner with me tonight, I can give you a full briefing.”

  His offer of dinner caught her off guard. “I thought you said you wouldn’t share Tony’s secrets?”

  “I won’t, but that doesn’t mean I can’t discuss where his problems lie. Without specifics.” He raised his eyebrow. “I’m trying to dangle a carrot in front of you. Please take it.”

  “And if I don’t?” she asked, wondering if he was going to try and bribe her into going on a date with him.

  “And if you don’t… then I guess I’ll keep asking until you say yes. Wear you down one day at a time.” His face clouded. “Although that is not much of a threat, I’m only here in Bear Bluff for five days.”

  “What?” Her voice came out as if she were an overexcited schoolgirl. It surprised them both, leaving Caleb looking pleased with himself.

  “Five days.” He held his hand up, fingers spread wide as if to emphasize the point.

  “Why only five days?” she asked, knowing she was giving herself away by letting him know it mattered.

  “If you have dinner with me, I’ll tell you all about it.” He grinned. “Now, that is bribery, or at least coercion. It’s up to you.” He got out of the car, ducking down to look at her one more time. “Do I get an answer?”

  “Yes.”

  “Yes to dinner, or yes to an answer?” he asked.

  “Dinner.” She started up the car, and began to drive away while he still held the door. Quickly slamming it shut, she could hear him laughing, a sound that would ring in her ears all day while she tried to figure out how to sort this whole mess out.

  ***

  Zoe drove home, only stopping off in Bear Bluff to buy a pastry and a coffee, before going back to the small house she rented. It was a temporary home for her and Tony while she figured out where their future lay, but having met Caleb, that answer was not going to be so easy to find.

  She hadn’t let her brother know she had only signed a very short lease on the house. The move here had been for Tony’s sake, and if he screwed up, she didn’t want to be left with a long lease on a house she didn’t want to live in. Bear Bluff was nice, well, it was more than nice, but it was full of bears.

  And she was a prey animal. Was that something she should have told Caleb straightaway? That he might want to eat her for his dinner tonight if she shifted in front of his bear?

  She pulled up in front of the house and switched off the engine, hoping the Internet would behave itself today; she had a lot of work to do. One thing she loved about graphic design was the choice of working at home, or in an office. She always chose home. She liked the peace and quiet of it, surrounding herself with objects she loved to pick up and explore with her hands, in the hope they would inspire her to create beautiful designs for her clients.

  As she unlocked the front door and went inside, she checked her phone to see if she had missed a text from Caleb updating on her on how he was getting on with her brother. Nothing. However, thoughts of her man left her wishing she could explore his body with her hands. All those smooth contours, just waiting for her hands to caress them, and stroke them.

  Already he was influencing her thoughts. Was she wrong to try and fight it? She had known all her life she would one day find a mate, if she was lucky. But she had also grown up having to look after her brother, and he had to be her priority. Tony had been so fortunate the sheriff of her hometown, Merry Wood, on the edge of the Mistletoe Mountain Range, had heard about what Dylan was trying to accomplish with young offenders, and contacted the sheriff of Bear Bluff.

  She placed her pastry and coffee on her desk, then she opened her laptop, determined to do some work. It would be a good way to distract herself from her silent phone, which her eyes kept straying toward.

  “He’ll call if he has some news,” she told herself.

  With that, she bit into her pastry, sighing at the little bit of heaven that was melting in her mouth. She was sure Caleb would show her more than a little bit of heaven.

  “Not helping,” she told her inner voice, which was where the thought originated.

  A gi
ggling filled her head, and she had to smile. Her inner beast was quirky; her dad often said she was only one step south of being a resident of Mistletoe Mountain.

  Picking up her coffee, she took a sip, and nearly sprayed it over her keyboard when her phone finally buzzed to life. It was a call from Caleb: she only hoped it was good news.

  Chapter Five – Caleb

  Caleb was taking the opportunity to call Zoe, while Tony was loading the truck with the timber they needed.

  “Hi,” he said when she answered the phone, sounding breathless. He wanted to ask her if she’d been running or if she was simply excited to hear his voice. Either question would have left him sounding like a jerk.

  “How are things? How’s Tony?” Zoe asked quickly.

  “I’ve spoken to Dylan. He didn’t mention to Tony we were mates. He only told Tony we were looking for him. I then spoke to Jordan, who’s in charge of the program, who said it was OK for Tony to work with me for a few days.” He watched the young man who would someday be his brother-in-law as Tony loaded the truck. He didn’t shirk the job; now that he was here, Tony worked hard, as if trying to prove himself, which intrigued Caleb. “What trouble did he get into, before you moved to Bear Bluff?”

  “He stole some stuff from a store, on more than one occasion. Not in our hometown. He was at college, and he got in with the wrong crowd. Long story, but I think he was trying to prove himself.”

  “Prove himself? Interesting. Look, I’ll update you later. I want to get to know him, see if I can find out what is going on in his head.” Caleb turned away from Tony and moved so he was out of earshot. “He came in and apologized to Dylan. Said he overslept. Dylan understandably gave him both barrels; he’s on his last warning. I am going to do everything I can to help him, but I can’t work miracles. There’s nothing I can do if he is just blowing hot air up Dylan’s ass… Sorry.”

  “I’ve heard worse. But I get your meaning.” Her voice caught in her throat. “When we moved here, he said he would behave, that he was happy to make a fresh start. What I don’t understand is why it’s gone wrong so quickly.”