RANCHER BEAR’S BABY(14)

Things were weird. I could tell he was hiding something from me. I don’t know how I knew it, but I did. The connection I felt with Alex wasn’t normal. It hadn’t been normal from the start. I felt as though I was already in love with him and I’d spent less than forty-eight hours with the man. When he spoke of us being meant for each other, I believed him, no matter how crazy my brain told me it was. Because I felt it too.

I’d been drawn back to Landing, Wyoming. Despite not enjoying it the first time around, I’d been pulled back like an addict. Everything in me had itched to be back until the bus crossed the city limits sign. I felt pulled to Alex the same way. I couldn’t make sense of it, but for some reason, that was okay.





CHAPTER 15: Alex




Elizabeth sat between my Mom and Bailey, listening to them go on and on about babies in Landing. Babies in Landing came sooner than normal babies. They were bigger and tougher and would be changing into a goddamn bear within a few months of being born. That was something I was going to have to talk to her about before it happened, because Mom and Bailey were leaving that out.

She’d almost seen the bear in me come out to play. I’d nearly marked her in the bathroom. I’d been seconds from sinking my teeth into her delicious tasting skin and leaving a claiming mark for the rest of the world to see. She’d panicked when she saw my eyes, though. There was no way she wouldn’t panic when I told her about the rest of it.

My heart pounded away in my chest at the mere thought of her running from me when she found out. I already loved her. Talking to her, listening to her speak, hearing her soft whimpers when I touched her, I couldn’t get enough. My heart was hers.

I kept an eye on her at all times, making sure no one got too close. I knew she smelled like me and carried my scent at a basic level because of our little cub, but any bear within twenty miles would be able to smell the honey scent she put off. They’d be able to smell her arousal, too. Just like I could every single time she looked at me.

“You really did it, huh?” My oldest brother, Matt, said as he stopped beside me.

I was leaning against a shade tree, enjoying watching instead of participating in the festivities. I sent a cross look at him and straightened. “Don’t start.”

Matt, as the oldest, always assumed that he would get the ranch when Dad finally passed. Dad had been gone for a few months and until Elizabeth showed up at our doorstep the day before, nothing had been decided. He knew how much his oldest sons cared about money, but he wanted them to care about family, too.

Bears didn’t reproduce at the rate that other shifters did. Mom and Dad were a freak occurrence. Our population had dwindled over the years, and if bears like my brothers didn’t learn to care about family, our population would dwindle to nothing. In trying to teach his sons a lesson, Dad left a stipulation in his will that the ranch would go to the first son to produce an heir.

I’d discovered that little bit of information the month after Elizabeth left. Her leaving wrote off any chance I’d ever have of inheriting the ranch by being the first to produce an heir. Without her, I’d never want to have cubs. Hell, I hadn’t even wanted to look at another woman since I’d met Elizabeth. Not inheriting the ranch was of no consequence to me. I’d never been huge on responsibility anyway. But, seeing her show back up with my cub growing inside of her belly, changed something in me. It was as though a fire had been lit deep within. Now, I would soon have a family to provide for.

My brothers were furious. Matt and Luke had been too busy looking for loop holes in Dad’s will to actually get out and try to find a mate. It served them right, groveling over an inheritance with our dad’s body not yet cold.

Matt shoved me and stormed off in the direction of the house. He cast a glare at Elizabeth that had me growling at his back.

I looked back at Elizabeth sitting with my family. They would accept her, eventually. Humans always made bears uncomfortable at first, because they couldn’t be themselves, but knowing she was carrying my baby bear would warm them up. Then, when I finally claimed her as my own, they’d treat her like one of the family.

Elizabeth looked up at me with a grin on her face and waved at me. My dick hardened in my pants and I had to shift my footing to remain comfortable. She glanced at my pants and then giggled before turning back to her conversation.

There was no way I was sleeping away from her tonight. I couldn’t, even if I wanted to. I needed to be closer to her.

Lucas, my third oldest brother angled up to me, his eyes on Elizabeth. “As the leader of this here ranch, you have a job to do. There seems to be a gap in the fence up the hill. Someone called and said one of the cows got out.”