Mail-Order Bear: BBW Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance (BRIDES fur BEARS Book 5) Read Free Page A

vehemently. “That's
not healthy. Your bear has needs, Reid. So do you...”
    Without waiting for Damien to
finish, Reid yanked his cousin up by the collar and growled, “You'd
better make this go away.”
    “You mean make her go away,” Damien deadpanned, showing not a hint of remorse.
    He shrugged out of Reid's
grip and glanced at his watch. “But...I think it's too late
now. She should be on her way. In fact, she'll be arriving very
soon. You'd better start sweeping up those crumbs on the floor and
straightening those cushions.”
    Reid's eyes widened.
“You...invited her here?” he shouted. “You sent
for her?”
    “Uh-uh. I didn't send
for her,” Damien corrected. “ You did. She's
coming to your house.”
    Reid was done playing games.
His cousin was always pulling pranks and tricks on him, but this
time, Damien had gone too far. Reid stalked up to Damien and grabbed
his collar again. But this time, his claws were pushing against
Damien's stubbornly set jaw.
    Reid growled, his anger
making his bear peer out of his scowling human face. His bear glared
at Damien for an instant, before chuffing in annoyance and receding.
His bear would never hurt Damien. Damien was family, and a Ken bear
would spill blood for another Ken bear but they would never draw
blood from each other.
    Reid loved his only cousin
like a brother. But at this moment, he could have made a bear rug
out of his cousin's hide.
    “Get. Rid. Of. Her!”
Reid ground out.
    “Give her a chance,
Reid. You've got to let someone in, some time...”
    “I am not letting her
into my house.” Or my heart.
    “Don't be an ass,
Reid.”
    Reid opened his mouth to
yell, but forced himself to take a deep breath instead.
    “I did it for you,”
Damien snapped. “Sometimes I don't know why I even bother.
Geez, I even had to pretend to be you. Who wants to be a bitter,
grouchy old bear?”
    When Reid spoke again, it was
in a dangerously low voice. “So let me get this straight. You
put in an ad for a mail-order bride, pretended to be me and wrote
back and forth to the women who responded to the ad...”
    “Not women. Just one.
Only one woman answered the ad,” Damien pointed out. “But
she seems real nice.”
    “...and you gave her my
address and asked her to march straight up to my door,” Reid
plowed on, his restraint fraying. He was going to rip his pompous,
presumptuous cousin to shreds!
    Damien raised a finger as if
he had just remembered something, something else he had conveniently
forgotten to mention. “Oh, one more thing. She has a
four-year-old son.” He pulled some papers from his pocket and
placed them on the table. “Her letters.”
    “What…?”
    “Well, you like kids,
don't you?” Damien reasoned, looking eagerly at the door.
“They should be knocking on your door anytime now...”
    Damien must have sensed the
danger he was in, because the rascal almost tore the door right off
its hinges as he wrenched it open and barreled out.
    “Her name is Lauren
Sanchez! Her son's name is Eddie. Be nice to them!” Damien
yelled over his shoulder. “And you're welcome!”

CHAPTER
SEVEN

    Lauren held her nephew's hand
and shouldered the large backpack that held all their worldly
belongings and what was left of their lives and dreams. Eddie looked
up at her with large, worried eyes and swallowed.
    “Y-you're coming here
to get married, Aunt Lauren?”
    Lauren nodded. “Yes.
We'll have a new home, and we'll be safe from those wolves. And you
have to call me Ma,” Lauren reminded gently.
    “Oh.” Eddie
looked down. “Because you told this guy that I'm your son.”
    “Yes,” Lauren
said guiltily. If she told the truth, then Reid Ken would probably
probe deeper and ask her how Eddie's parents had died. She would
have to explain that Eddie's deadbeat dad had not only gambled his
life away, but theirs as well.
    She was using a lie to enter
into this marriage. This was a terrible, ominous start to any
relationship, but she didn't come to