Bearly Breathing (Alpha Werebear Shifter Paranormal Romance) Read online

  Bearly Breathing

  Alpha Werebear Paranormal Shifter Romance

  by

  Lynn Red

  A Jamesburg Shifters novel

  Copyright 2014, Lynn Red

  Connect with me online at my Facebook page: facebook.com/lynn.red.946

  Click here to sign up for my mailing list to get the latest news and exclusive excerpts, contests, and cover reveals! Or navigate to: http://eepurl.com/G1q2X

  Also by Lynn Red

  The Alpha's Kiss

  Change For Me (Werewolf Romance)

  Shift Into Me (Alpha Werewolf Romance)

  Howl For Me (Alpha Werewolf Shifter Paranormal Romance)

  The Jamesburg Shifters

  Bearing It All (Alpha Werebear Shifter Paranormal Romance)

  Bear With Me (Alpha Werebear Shifter Paranormal Romance)

  Bearly Breathing (Alpha Werebear Shifter Paranormal Romance)

  To Catch a Wolf (BBW Werewolf Shifter Romance)

  Standalone

  The Alpha's Kiss Complete Series (Alpha Werewolf Fated Mate Romance)

  Watch for more at Lynn Red’s site.

  Table of Contents

  Copyright Page

  Also By Lynn Red

  Dedication

  -1- | “Welcome to Jamesburg. I think. That’s where we are, right?” | -Erik Danniken, Alpha of Jamesburg

  -2- | “You’ll pay for this.” | -Orion Samuelsson, One Bad Bear

  -3- | “I’m always up for a field trip. Or visiting an actual warzone. It’s hard to tell the difference sometimes.” | -Clea Kellen

  -4- | “Mating is such a complicated thing. But right now? Seems really damn simple.” | -Clea

  -5- | “I’m not entirely sure, but I think I just got hit on by a jack donkey.” | -Clea Kellen

  -6- | “Sometimes everything falls into place. Life, work, love, it all just works out. Other times? You’re me.” | -Clea

  -7- | “The only part about hunting I like is the finding part. That’s what makes it all worthwhile.” | -Orion

  -8- | “What the hell am I doing? Oh right, I’m forcing fate to do what I want. And if that doesn’t work? No time to think about that. It will. It has to.” | -Orion Samuelsson

  -9- | “Sometimes a dream is just a dream. Other times, a dream is a blaring air horn telling you to jump on a guy and gyrate until you scream. Sigmund Freud said that. Sort of.” | -Clea

  -10- | “The last thing I need right now is to be chased by a sex-crazed zombie she-bear. Wait, what am I even saying? That’s the last thing I ever need!” | -Orion

  -11- | “That thing about how you never know how strong love can be until it leaves? Yeah, I’m calling bullshit.” | -Clea

  -12- | “I dunno about you guys, but I’ve pretty much always wanted to wrestle a dinosaur.” | -Orion

  -13- | “Sometimes you negotiate to get what you want, and other times you turn a lake into Jell-O to get... wait, what was I saying?” | -Celia Maynard, Very Angry Beaver

  -14- | “Once, just one time, I want to hold Complainer’s Court without having to throw a lectern at anyone’s head.” | -Erik Danniken

  -15- | “You never really know someone until you see them with eight shifter babies climbing up their legs.” | -Clea

  -16- | “There isn’t enough hamburger in the world to get me to take care of a room full of shifter cubs on my own. Okay, maybe there is, but it’s a LOT.” | -Orion

  -17- | “It doesn’t matter how long it takes if you go at it four times in an hour. No, seriously. Four.” | -Clea

  -18- | “The only difference between me and them is that I only hurt people who deserve it. Or, I guess, ones who really, really piss me off.” | -Orion

  -19- | “The only thing slower than snails screwing a glacier is you two doing... anything!” | -Celia

  -20- | “This is really, really, really hard to believe.” | -Clea

  -21- | “I didn’t expect to see... okay, well at this point, expectations are kinda out the window.” | -Clea

  -22- | “Sometimes the only thing you can do is let go of the steering wheel for a second and kinda let stuff happen.” | -Clea

  -23- | “I’m just gonna watch, see what happens, and pretend I can make any sense of it at all.” | -Clea Kellen

  -24- | “This was never supposed to happen... but I’m pretty sure I like it.” | —Clea Kellen

  Connect with me online at my Facebook page: facebook.com/lynn.red.946 | Click here to sign up for my mailing list to get the latest news and exclusive excerpts, contests, and cover reveals! Or navigate to: http://eepurl.com/G1q2X

  Selected Excerpts | Bear With Me

  Excerpt

  The Alpha’s Kiss – Change for Me

  Excerpt

  Lynn’s Picks

  I Married a Bear – by AT Mitchell

  Wren and the Werebear – by Aubrey Rose

  Further Reading: Bearing It All (Alpha Werebear Shifter Paranormal Romance)

  Also By Lynn Red

  About the Author

  To you, who make it all possible

  LR.

  -1-

  “Welcome to Jamesburg. I think. That’s where we are, right?”

  -Erik Danniken, Alpha of Jamesburg

  “Isn’t that the cutest thing you’ve ever seen?” Izzy jabbed her mate, Erik Danniken, in the ribs with a sharp elbow. “Look at all the cubs!”

  Someone, whose name escaped her for a moment – Izzy had only met the woman once before – had somehow wrangled two bear cubs, a lion cub, three fox kits, and a turtle so young he couldn’t stop himself from half-shifting every so often, into order. She stood up straight and tall with her strawberry blond hair in a tight bun. Whoever it was, she was in complete control, though she was smiling.

  In her arms was a snoozing raccoon baby whose tiny, pink, whiskered nose twitched every time the thing let out a sighing breath. The shifter Mary Poppins had everything under control. Every time a cub or a kit made a noise, she looked at them crossways and they quieted. When one of the bear cubs grabbed the lion’s tail, she intercepted the mischief-to-be with a stony glare.

  It really was something to watch and marvel at, the way the kids and the woman acted in their back and forth dance of trying to get away with something and trying to prevent the getting away with something.

  “Erik! Look at these cute little babies!”

  Erik snapped out of his daydream, turning his piercing, yellow eyes toward Izzy. As the alpha wolf in charge of Jamesburg, he was responsible for doing lots of ribbon cutting and throwing out lots of first pitches... or at least, he would be if those things happened frequently enough in Jamesburg to require someone to do them.

  As it stood, he was supposed to give the opening speech for a charity art sale and exhibition for Lilah Lee, the town’s newest superstar.

  Okay, so maybe she was the town’s only superstar.

  “What?” he asked, his voice half stunned. “What’s cute? You?” he hooked a finger in Izzy’s waistband and pulled her toward him. He slid a hand around her back, warming her skin with his circling fingers.

  “The babies, jackass. And look how that woman’s in control of them. When I was a kid you couldn’t have possibly given me enough Tootsie Pops to stand still like that.”

  Erik let out a little laugh. “Babies, huh? You want one? We could make that happen, you know.” He slid an exploratory finger underneath the back of Izzy’s shirt, but she shrugged him off.

  “Uh,” Izzy pushed back. “Not here, no way. And not until you quit wearing those pants everywhere.”

 
; Erik rolled down the multicolored fabric at the top of his yoga pants and shrugged, shooting a half-grin in Izzy’s direction. “What’s wrong with just being myself?” he asked. “I feel confident when I wear my—”

  “Oh good lord, Erik.” Jamie Ampton, elegantly dressed in a hip-hugging, satiny, black pencil skirt and chopsticks in her black hair, flicked her bat wings as she approached. “Why in the hell are you wearing yoga pants?”

  Izzy shook her head. “He found himself on our little yoga retreat vacation and now he won’t stop wearing them.”

  Jamie let out a disbelieving laugh. “Yeah, I can think of at least one way that’ll get Captain visi-balls to quit wearing those things. You keep him from getting in your pants for three or four hours, and he’ll start climbing the walls.”

  “You can’t see... wait, can you?” Erik asked as he looked down at himself. “You’re full of shit! You can’t see,” he paused. “Oh okay fine, but you barely can. There’s not any sort of defined shape going on.”

  Apparently satisfied that he wasn’t going to show off anything he didn’t want to show off – not that it particularly bothered him to be all out in the open anyway – Erik cleared his throat and adjusted his tank top.

  “You’re one giant, walking fashion tragedy, Erik,” Jamie said with a laugh. “But somehow we love you anyway. I gotta run, I’ve got—”

  “Who is that big, sexy thing staring at you?” Izzy said. “He looks like some kind of mysterious billionaire with those dark eyes and the perfect stubble. Why didn’t you say you had a boyfriend?”

  Jamie shrugged and looked back at the man who was devouring her with his eyes. “It’s nothing,” she said, obviously holding back. “That’s just Vince. I don’t know about billionaire, but he is moody and brooding with a heart of gold underneath that rough exterior. Can I tell you a secret?”

  “’Course,” Izzy said as Erik ran his fingers through his hair, looking at himself in the reflection in one of the portrait frames.

  Jamie leaned in close. “He’s a... a vampire,” she said, giggling a little. “And it’s true what they say. About the tooth thing? He’s... well, we better talk later. I’m gonna get all ahead of myself.”

  For the first time, maybe in history, a red blush crept down Jamie’s cheeks as she started giggling. The two held hands for a second, and laughed again. Jamie swept away in the way she had that’s more like a breeze moving through a room than a person walking.

  “Oh my God,” Erik said, when Izzy came back to his side. “It smells like a frat house in here, what in the hell—”

  With a cologne cloud preceding him, Atlas, the town’s former alpha-turned-zombie bear, wandered in and immediately approached Lilah Lee, the artist of the hour, and petted her. Jenga, his witch doctor handler, ran up seconds later, tugging the giant’s arm impotently.

  “She’s got the patience of a saint,” Erik said. “And an iron stomach, too. What did he do, drink a thing of Axe body spray?”

  “A case!” Jenga announced, slapping Erik on the back. “Ain’t no telling why he decided to do that, but I can tell you it costs exactly sixty-two dollars for a case of that stuff. I’m just glad I have a sidecar to tote him around. I ain’t exactly one for gettin’ queasy at smells but... whew.”

  Glasses clinked, Atlas drooled. For a moment, Izzy realized, the world was exactly at peace.

  But in Jamesburg? Peace never lasted very long. There was always another curveball; always another danger lurking in the woods. But when it came down to the line, she always had Erik. He always had her. No matter what sort of craziness came to town, they had each other.

  Izzy squeezed his hand and took a deep breath, just letting the surrounding chaos wash over her.

  “Oh!” Erik said, with a start, as someone waved to him. “It’s my time to shine, babe,” he said with a quick glance at Izzy that told her he was uncharacteristically nervous. Well, the glance, along with the gulping.

  “Go knock ‘em dead,” Izzy said with a grin. “And, uh... make sure you stand behind the podium in case you start getting any thoughts about things other than museum donations.”

  It went like most speeches at charity events go. Erik made some jokes, asked for money to support the museum, and, most importantly, he stayed behind the damn podium. As she watched him, and Erik relaxed into his normal old self, Izzy started to feel that old, familiar twinge that he somehow always put deep into the pit of her stomach.

  The words coming out of his mouth were practiced and smooth, and so boring she hardly paid any attention at all. But it was the way he moved, the way he talked, and the way he kept glancing over at her for a few seconds at a time, letting her know that he was focused on her above anyone else, that got her heart racing.

  Izzy got the distinct impression that it didn’t matter how long they were together or how old they got, Erik Danniken was going to be able to make her heart race and her mind wander. In the back of her thoughts, she imagined his rough fingers and smooth palms running along her backbone, down to her hips.

  She imagined the scent of Erik’s cologne that seemed to remain just on the edge of there or not for way longer than anyone she’d ever known. His taste, the way his breath slid across her skin when he kissed her, and the way he held her tight as he...

  Izzy coughed to distract herself from hitting the deck and going to town right then and there. Still, though, it didn’t stop the sweat running down the sides of her face in tiny droplets, nor did it keep her from smiling a little more flirtatiously the next time Erik looked in her direction.

  With a shake of her head she said all at once that she couldn’t believe she was actually dirty thinking in the middle of an art show, and that she wanted Erik more than anything, yoga pants or no.

  Actually, she thought, no anything would be good right about now.

  “And so,” Erik took a big breath, unconsciously flexing his shoulders, “the next time you find yourself wanting to go buy a Picasso or a Renoir, instead take that thirty bucks or whatever, and donate it here to support fine local artists like Lily.”

  The room grew quiet and someone leaned over the podium, whispering to Erik.

  “It’s not... Oh! Sorry,” he said with one of his panty-dropping grins. “Lilah, I mean. Well anyway, I’m about done rattling the cup. Let’s go get some drinks!”

  A roar of approval went through the crowd.

  In the background though, someone was yelling Erik’s name.

  “Alpha! Alpha!”

  The voice was tiny, almost imperceptible over the din of people wanting to go get free Heineken, box wine, and Li’l Smokies cooked in something resembling grape jelly soup.

  “Alpha Danniken!” cried the unknown shifter. “There’s something else!”

  Erik was turning away from the podium, making sure his hand fell in front of his semi-exposed gear. When the voice cried out again, he wrinkled his forehead, trying to decide if that was actually someone yelling for him, or if he was hearing things.

  Enough of the room had emptied into the banquet hall for the voice to get above the crowd noise. “Alpha Danniken! There’s something you must address!”

  “Hunh?” Erik grunted, turning back to the face the dwindling audience instead of making bedroom eyes at his mate. “Is somebody yelling for me?”

  The crowd parted further until standing in the middle of the room like Moses in the middle of an industrial carpet Red Sea, was a small, roundish woman who couldn’t have been more than four and a half feet tall, and came complete with fairly thick glasses, and a pair of buckteeth that could – and probably did from time to time – chew through trees.

  “Yes?” Erik asked. “You are?”

  “Celia Maynard,” she said with a short, terse, tight voice that seemed a little more aggressive than necessary. “I’m here on behalf of the forest.”

  “Er,” Erik caught himself and staved off a laugh. “Is this like a Lorax thing?”

  Izzy watched him, and was a little surprised and slightly
excited that he’d correctly referenced Dr. Seuss.

  “I don’t know what that is,” Celia’s voice was strained, and she swatted her hand in the air like she was trying to catch a fly. “But I assume you’re trying to be cute. You’re always cute, aren’t you? That’s your game, isn’t it? Act cute and ignore everything important going on around you?”

  Erik shrugged her off with an easy gesture. “Not usually,” he said. “But if you don’t need anything, I’ll be going. There’s Heineken and—”

  “The forest is dying!” she wailed. “Trees falling down, controlled burns not being done, rivers overflowing their banks! I know you want to turn this forest, turn this town, into some kind of suburban paradise. Well, I’m gonna show you a flood!”

  “Listen, uh, Celia did you say? Listen, I don’t know what you’re getting at here, but if there are grievances against the city government you’d like to file, there’s a chain of command for that.” Erik began counting the steps on his fingers. “First you need to see Duggan, he’s the city manager. You can yell at him all you like,” Erik said with a mischievous grin, “or you can just sign up to have a turn at the docket next time the council is sitting. And then you show up, list off all the reasons you’re angry, and if any of them make any sense, then we’ll—”

  “NO!” she screeched. “That is not acceptable!”

  Erik, obviously taken aback, looked over at Izzy, who motioned for him to calm down and get control of himself before he did something stupid. “Erik...” she whispered, moving to the side of the podium and taking the huge wolf’s arm. “Come on, Erik. Remember why we’re here, it’s for the art and for that day care that’s getting some of the donations, and for the exhibit. We aren’t, turns out, here to fight with townspeople. Not this time.”

  “Don’t you drag him away!” Celia hissed. “He’s going to listen to me this time. He ignored fourteen letters, six petitions – all with the required number of signatures to be read in front of the council, by the way – and three phone calls!”

  Erik was shaking his head, and by now the cocktail crowd was coming back out to see what the fuss was about.