The Right Bear's Arms BBW Paranormal Bear Shifter Romance(11)

“What if you could change her mind?” Rafe said suddenly.

“I tried—”

“No, I mean really,” Rafe said.

It didn’t make sense, on the surface. He didn’t want to be an alpha, and Katie hated alphas. He remembered what she said, about being a brood mare. Were there still alphas out there that treated kinfolk that way? It was archaic, not to mention barbaric. What if she’d just grown up with the wrong ideas, the wrong type of bears? “You mean, show her. How it’s supposed to be.”

“Yeah! Maybe that’s part of the destiny, Jake. Maybe you have to get your own shit figured out before you get your happy ending.”

Jake took a long swallow of beer, feeling the little bit of warmth hit his stomach. “What if you’re wrong? There’s no going back. If I accept the power, that’s it. What if it makes it worse?”

“I told you already, man. If it doesn’t work out, it wasn’t destiny.” Rafe clapped him on the shoulder. “You really wanna spend the rest of your life playing guitar on the sidewalk? Look. Worst case scenario? You get to go home. You get to have your family back.”

“I gotta think about it,” Jake said. Katie was worthy of an alpha, of that much was he was sure. He just wasn’t sure he was worthy of being her alpha, and undoing all of the wrong things she’d learned.





Chapter Six





Gran’s house in Winslow was really more of a cabin, tucked away in the deep woods halfway up a mountain west of Boulder. Katie woke up in the same small cozy bedroom that had been hers whenever she visited since she was old enough to sleep in a bed. Even the quilts were the same. Time stood still here. She closed her eyes and snuggled back into the covers. The light outside her window said her body was on Chicago time and it was too early to get up.

The cabin had always been a refuge for Katie. She’d spent a whole summer here in high school after a particularly bad fight with Mom. She’d learned how to garden, how to can food. As long as she could remember, Gran had been on her own up here. Grandpa died before Katie was born, and Katie didn’t know much about him, apart from a few pictures around the house.

She was just about to close her eyes for a little more sleep when the smell of coffee drifted into her room. Pans rattled in the kitchen. Guess not everybody in the house thought it was too early to get up. Katie sat up and put on her slippers and robe, stopping to make her bed because if she didn’t, Gran would come in and do it when she wasn’t looking.

Early morning sunlight streamed through the kitchen windows and the old percolator bubbled away on the stove. Gran was half-hidden behind the open refrigerator door, muttering to herself and rooting around.


“Morning,” Katie said.

“Thought I heard you moving around,” Gran said. “You sleep good?”

“Always do here.” Katie checked on the coffee and got a blue ceramic mug down out of the cupboard. The kitchen never changed either—everything was always in the same place.

“Thought I’d make us some pancakes for breakfast. Got some fresh blueberries this morning. Sound good?” Gran came out of the refrigerator with eggs and buttermilk. She was a little shorter and stouter than Katie, iron gray hair already braided and wrapped around her head. Katie could count on one hand the number of times she’d seen it down, long and flowing to her waist.

“You don’t have to do all that for me.”

“Who said I was?” Gran gathered the rest of her ingredients on the counter and pulled out the griddle. “You don’t have to eat ‘em, but I need some blueberry pancakes this morning.”

Katie laughed. “Okay. Anything I can do?” She already knew what Gran would say and was reaching for the plates when Gran told her to set the table. They ate in the sun-warmed kitchen and lingered over their coffee. The contentment Katie felt was bone-deep, catching her by surprise. Only one thing’s missing, insisted her traitorous brain, supplying the image of Jake taking up the third chair, making Gran laugh with his deep, sweet voice.

“You gonna tell me what’s wrong?” Gran asked, interrupting her daydream.

Katie hid behind her mug and took a drink. “What makes you think anything’s wrong?”

“Cause you always run here when you’re upset.” Gran’s shrewd blue eyes pinned her to her chair. “You hear from your mom?”

“No. I don’t think she’s forgiven me for leaving home yet.” Katie put down the mug, and ran her fork through the remains of the syrup on her plate, watching it form patterns. “I met a guy,” she admitted.

Gran growled. “Did he hurt my little girl?” It was easy to forget that Gran was once one of the biggest, scariest she-bears in the county, and still could be if someone messed with her cubs. “Was he no good?”

“He was great,” Katie sighed. “But—I think he was one of Mom’s finds.”

“Bear?”

Katie nodded.

“Alpha?”

Katie nodded again, then added, “Well, he said he wasn’t, just that he was supposed to be.”

“Hmph.” Gran reached out and lifted Katie’s chin to make her look up. “Too old for you? That’s your mom’s style.”

“No, he was... Gran, he was too good to be true. He’s beautiful, and funny, and he’s a musician. And he tried to tell me he loves me, but...”