Laid Bear 2: The Kodiak Clan Read Free

worst part was standing on the scale in their bathroom with the healer peering around her belly to read the humiliating number. He made a few notes on a chart and handed her the results.  
    “I’ll send the blood to a lab, if you insist, but I can tell you that all your levels are normal. You’re gaining an acceptable amount of weight since your initial weight loss and your blood pressure is perfectly normal. Feel better now?” He shot Max a glance and rolled his eyes a little.
    Bethany felt a little silly but it did ease her mind. Chet’s warning about her and her baby’s health echoed through her brain every day, and she needed as much reassurance as she could get.
    “I’ve never heard of a successful mating between a human female and a bear male,” Chet had told her. “You humans are too delicate to handle our babies.”  
    She shuddered and tried to shake away Chet’s prophesy, her hand instinctively moving to her tummy.
    “Who’s it from?” Max’s words brought her back to the present with a jolt.

    ~ * ~ * ~

    Max smelled Bethany’s anxiety before he saw the flash of fear cross her beautiful face. He knew his own concern was making it even worse for her, and he tried to hide it but when he was caught off-guard, his inner bear got nervous. There was no hiding a nervous bear.
    “Who’s it from?” he asked, sauntering casually back into the bathroom to finish shaving. He hoped his light tone would ease her mind. Damn Chet , he thought, even as his heart tugged in sympathy for his uncle. Now more than ever he could relate to why his favorite uncle had turned so bitter.
    Chet had been irate with a capital I when Bethany moved in with Max, but when they broke the baby news to him, he’d blanched. With tears in his eyes, he stumbled out of the house without a word.
    "He'll be okay," Max insisted when Bethany suggested going after him, wrapping a protective arm around her shoulders. "He just needs a little time.”
    But Max wasn’t so sure. The death of his human wife and child had a profound effect on Chet, turning him into a grumpy human-hater. No, that’s not right, Max thought. He didn’t hate humans, precisely, but he was staunchly opposed to human-werebear crossbreeding, claiming it would dilute their breed.
    Max couldn’t accept that Chet really believed that, but was instead using it as a form of self-protection. It was only natural that the news of their relationship and pregnancy would hit Chet hard, bring up long-buried emotions.  
    Max only hoped that his once-jovial uncle could work through it and be happy for them. As it was, they hadn’t seen or heard from him since that tense meeting months before. Since Max lost his parents as a teenager, Chet was all he had left of his family.
    Except now he had Bethany and the baby.
    “Babe? Who’s the email from? It’s not more hate mail, is it?”
    Ever since Bethany started up their underground werebear-human matchmaking site, UrsaLove.com , they’d been getting threatening emails from weres all over the world. Some of them had even tracked down their phone number, making crank calls at all hours and doing everything they could to make their lives miserable.
    “It's from a Veronica Muir. She heard about us and apparently is interested in a human male."
    "Read it to me while I finish shaving.”
    "Dear Max and Bethany," Bethany raised her voice so he could hear her. "You're probably very aware that the whole werebear world is in an uproar (haha!) over your relationship. You're rather famous, you know. I wish I could say this is a good thing, but I'm sure you've heard plenty from those who disapprove.  
    "Anyway, that's not why I'm writing. I've found myself in a situation and I can't ask anyone I know for advice. It dawned on me today that maybe you could offer some insight, if you don't mind.”
    There was a pause before Bethany continued, her voice suddenly tight.
    "Six years ago, my husband was accidentally shot by a hunter when he was in