A Wife For The Bear: BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance (Bear Brides Book 3) Read Free

hi-fived each other.
    Brad laughed but shook his
head. “I've had too much to drink already. I'd better get
myself home or I'll be a bear with a sore head in the morning.”
    “We've all had too much
to drink,” Curtis grinned. “Oh God, listen to them.”
He whipped his head round and bellowed, “Will you guys stop
your God-awful singing? You're scaring the neighborhood dogs!”
    There were guffaws and a few
colorful expletives, but the din died down. The dogs stopped howling
their protests, and Brad could hear himself think again. “Run
along now,” Brad shooed the group off before they tried to wear
down his defenses again. “The strippers are waiting!”
    “Damn right!”
    “Woohoo! Here we
come!”
    “Booze and boobs! This
is heaven...”
    “You—are going
straight to hell, Jason!”
    “Shut up!”
    Brad watched the guys jostle
and jab at one another as they rumbled down the street. He stared at
their broad departing backs until they turned the corner and
disappeared from his view. Unfortunately, they'd started up their
singing again and he could hear their terrible warbling even from a
few blocks away.
    His clan members were mouthy
and boisterous, but they were solid, good guys. It had been a long
week. They'd completed two landscaping projects, and would be
starting another huge project next week. Business was good for
Nightfire Landscaping, the landscaping company owned by the Nightfire
clan. Brad's elder brother, Cole was the founder and Alpha of the
Nightfire clan, and his cousin, Dalton was the Beta. Dalton's
younger brother, Tony, and Brad were third in command in the clan.
Tony was just two years older than him, and they used to hang out
together all the time after work. But Tony had just gotten mated to
Terri Quinn, a recently Turned werebear. Tony used to hang out with
them on Friday nights, but tonight Tony had rushed home after work to
be with his mate. So had Cole. Cole's mate, Abby, was human, but
she was tough. Brad loved his sister-in-law. She made his big
brother happy, and if anyone deserved to be happy, it was Cole. Cole
and Dalton had been barely eighteen when their entire clan was
massacred by a rival clan. Only the four of them made it out of the
bloodbath. At just eighteen, Cole had become the head of what was
left of the Jameson bears. He had led them away from the fire, away
from the ashes of their family and herded them towards Moonstone
Creek, a small, rural town where they'd managed to make a life for
themselves.
    Brad rubbed absently at the
ache in his chest. The pain of losing his family never ever went
away. It just became more bearable with time. Brad had been a mere
lad of ten when he lost everything—his childhood, his home, his
entire clan. All he had left were his elder brother and his two
cousins.
    And that was more than what
most people had.
    The four of them were tight.
They had gone through so much together, and they had achieved so much
together. They were family, clan and blood.
    Cole had founded the
Nightfire clan in Moonstone Creek. Cole was a good Alpha, and he
recruited loyal, young werebears into the clan and the business.
Once a werebear joined the Nightfire clan, their extended families,
including mates, parents, siblings, even great-grandparents, became
part of the clan as well. Their numbers grew, and so did their
landscaping business.
    Brad was proud of everything
they'd accomplished. He loved his family and his clan members. The
boys were loud and fun, but every single Nightfire bear would fight
to the death to defend the clan.
    The strains of garbled
singing finally faded away. Brad smiled. Those boys sure were
having the time of their lives. And so they should. They worked
hard and they played hard. And they were single and young, most of
them in their twenties.
    Brad blew out a long breath.
He was thirty. He wasn't old, but he just felt...like there was a
void in him. And the void had only yawned wider now that Cole and
Tony was mated. Brad knew