Be My Bear: Pacific Northwest Bears #0.5: (Shifter Romance) Read online

  Be My Bear

  A Pacific Northwest Bears Novella

  Moxie North

  Wicked Whims Publishing

  Contents

  Preview

  Connect with Moxie

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Connect with Moxie

  Also by Moxie North

  Copyright

  Preview

  This is a short prequel novella that tells the story of how the Rochon parents met prior to having their three sons Cage, Wyatt, and Conner. This book takes place many, many years before the first PNW story, Bearly Cooking.

  In 1955 the chance of meeting your one true mate was challenging. Connie White was not interested in derailing her life plans to become a housewife. Her future was ahead of her and it didn’t involve an apron.

  Edward Rochon wanted nothing more that to find his mate and start his life. Sometimes all it takes is being in the right place at the right moment.

  “Edward,” she whispered. She wanted his mouth back.

  “Connie, just say the word. I’ll give you anything in my power. And if I can’t, I’ll figure out how to get it for you,” he told her. He meant it. He’d work his fingers to the bone to provide for her. And not just what he was used to. What she was used to.

  “I…” she started.

  “Baby, what? Tell me,” he encouraged. He took his thumb and ran it along her lower lip. It was swollen from their kisses.

  “I want you, Edward,” she whispered.

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  Copyright ©2015 Moxie North

  All Rights Reserved

  Kindle Edition

  Cover Design by Jacqueline Sweet

  Chapter 1

  The patches of trees along the roadside were starting to get fuller. Long stretches of land that didn’t have any signs of life on them. No buildings or houses. Just vast acres of trees. Ugh, trees.

  Constance Elizabeth White let her head rest against the cool window of the back seat of her parents’ Chevy Bel-Air. The steel and concrete of Seattle was far behind them. They’d boarded the Nisqually ferry to take them over to the peninsula, and now the drive was taking them to an out of the way town on the edges of the national forest.

  Once they got there, they’d head to a defunct summer camp that one of the clans had bought up. The annual clan get together of all the bear shifter groups was this weekend. The elders called it “The Gathering” like it was better than Christmas.

  The younger bears, mostly the cubs, called it Bear Bingo since they often held bingo night for the little ones. They also played bear tag and painted bear pictures. There was a lot of bear crafting too.

  The older kids, the ones that were past puberty called it “The Run” since that was what the weekend morphed into. A bunch of crazy hormonal shifters dashing through the woods wreaking havoc. In her parents’ day, it was a formal gathering to see if anyone’s children could find their mates within another clan.

  Now it was a horny free-for-all that often ended in random fornication in the woods. The elders turned a blind eye to this. Promiscuity in the human world was frowned upon. In the shifter world, every teenager and young adult had an animal inside them that had rested dormant for most of their childhood. They needed out to play.

  Bear shifters were like any other shifter, in fact the Fates, the forces that control the universe and destiny, would match them with their one true mate. It was the perfect person for that shifter. They would compliment them in everything from personality to desires and dislikes of the other person.

  Once a shifter found their mate and bonded with that person, they were mated for life. By leaving their mating mark, everyone knew that those shifters were taken. It was a done deal.

  This was Connie’s first run. She’d spent the previous years helping the little ones glue puff balls onto paper plates since she was considered too young by her parents. This year she was eighteen, and her parents thought she needed to get out there and mingle.

  Connie thought she needed to be home in their beautiful house that looked over the bay. She could be out with her friends shopping or going to the movies. She was the only one of her friends that had a driver. Well, technically it was her father’s driver, but she could still use the car. This gave her freedoms most girls her age couldn’t imagine.

  Instead, she was spending the weekend in some podunk rental cabin so she could trudge out into the woods, probably get bit by mosquitoes, and have other bears sniff at her.

  She sighed loud enough for her parents to hear. “Are we there yet?” She knew they weren’t, but she felt like being annoying.

  “Yes dear, our four-hour journey has magically become two thanks to modern technology,” her mother said sarcastically.

  “The rocket ship leaves at noon,” her dad said like he was funny.

  It was 1955, and the U.S. was in a boom period. Her father was in shipping, and since the war ended business was good. As a result, Connie had grown accustomed to a very comfortable lifestyle. She went to the best all girls private school in Seattle.

  She had a decent allowance and was trusted to be out on her own. She knew her parents gave her more freedom than most girls, but this was based solely on the fact that she could turn into a modest size bear when she needed to.

  Connie’s bear was like her, pampered. Probably the only bear in the world that didn’t like getting its paws dirty. Her bear preferred grassy meadows and easy to reach beehives.

  “You know this is no better than an arranged marriage right?” She threw this out from the back seat.

  “It is no such thing. You have very little opportunity to meet any bears your age. How will you ever find your mate if you don’t put yourself out there?” her mother said exasperated.

  “What if my mate is a human?” Connie asked, purely for shock value.

  She heard her mother gasp from the front seat. “Really, Connie, that isn’t even funny to joke about. Your poor cousin, her mother must be mortified.” Connie’s cousin had gone off to college and found her mate in a biology class. It was quite the scandal.

  Connie didn’t really care if her mate was human or shifter. She wasn’t looking to settle down. She was in her last year of high school, and her eighteenth birthday had been two days ago. Connie wanted to go to college and get a job. Not become a model housewife like her mother. She didn’t think her mother’s job wasn’t important; it just wasn’t for her.

  “This is fun, pumpkin,” her father said. “At least this year you aren’t stuck working on making newspaper hats,” he reminded her.

  “True, but I was getting good at them,” she murmured.

  She heard her father laugh from the front seat. Her family was incredibly normal. Her dad Henry White was a business man. Her mother, Constance (yes same name, just like her mother before her) White was a homemaker. Her older brother Lionel was in his Junior year of college and played football.

  Then there was her. They were the typical All-American Family. Except they were all bears. Her parents were brown bears, and so was her brother. Connie
’s was a black bear, and she decided she had the prettiest fur, so she won the bear lottery.

  “What if I don’t run?” Connie asked.

  “Pumpkin, you don’t have to. But I think when you get there and meet up with some of your friends from the previous years you’ll get into the spirit of things. Remember, though,” he paused and said sternly, “You can choose and reject anyone you want. I hate saying this to you as a father, but we are also bears and shifters. All I can say is don’t make a mistake you will regret later.”

  Connie had heard this speech before. “Dad, I have no intention of letting those yokels get their grubby paws on me,” she snorted.

  “Honey, don’t be a snob,” her mother chided.

  “Not being a snob. They are yokels. I bet some haven’t even gone to school. And they are not getting one claw on me. I’ll rip a chunk out of them so fast it’ll take days to heal.”

  “That’s my girl,” her dad said with a big smile on his face.

  Connie settled back and watched the green scenery pass by her window. Always green in Washington. It wasn’t like she didn’t want her mate. Her bear certainly wanted one. But who would be able to put up with her? It was rare for bears to live in the city. Most bears preferred to be in the woods close to as many trees as possible.

  That meant they lived rougher than most. Connie didn’t want to live rough. She wanted to live soft and surrounded by conveniences. Washing machines preferably ran by a housekeeper. Stocked supermarkets and nine TV channels to choose from. Not hunting for game in the woods.

  There was no way she was going to find her one true mate out here in the middle of nowhere.

  Chapter 2

  “Dang it, get the hell out of my way!”

  Edward Rochon was going to be late. He knew it, and his bear knew it. Tonight was the run, and he’d be damned if he missed it. This was his third year. The first year he was too new and green to understand how things worked. Last year, he’d gotten beaten out to all the sweet pieces by the bigger, older bears. Now at nineteen he was the bigger, older bear. The past year had Edward changing from a scrawny tall kid to a tall and built young man.

  After The Run, where he’d ended up eating more dirt than anything else, he started really putting the effort in at work. Edward worked for a logging outfit. Straight out of high school he got the first job he could. It was a shit job as a choke setter. It was dangerous and a pain in the ass running up hillsides to put cabling around fallen trees. One false move and you were squashed.

  But when he realized that it so hard because he was so weak he made a change. He took to his job like it was a challenge to push his body. When he wasn’t running up hillsides, he was swinging an axe. In the course of a year, he’d added about forty pounds, most of that muscle. This year he was getting some bear action.

  Edward never had a problem with the ladies, but they were all human. He’d never hooked up with a bear. Girls that were willing to put out usually had their reasons, or they were just trying to be rebellious. Edward wanted to know what it was like with a girl that really had an animal inside her

  Now he was going to miss the whole thing.

  “Seriously, can you guys hurry up at all?” he barked to the men in front of him. A couple turned around and gave him the bird. It was payday, so everyone was lined up to get their wages. He couldn’t skip picking up his pay. His money was part of his clan’s money.

  They didn’t pool everything, but everyone supported each other. That meant his money or most of it went into his family’s communal pot. If another family in their clan needed help, they would step up. It’s the way it had always been.

  But he still had to get home, shower off the stench of work and be at the campground by dark. Time ticked by, and the line seemed to crawl. He finally made it to the front and grabbed his money. He sprinted off to his beat up pickup truck that belonged to his brother. Took him twice cranking the ignition to get it to turn over. He threw it into gear and peeled out.

  He was out at a site, so he knew it was forty-five minutes until he got home. Damn, he was excited. His bear was chomping at the bit. His bear wanted to run and wanted to track down a pretty girl. He wanted to take a few swipes at the older bears that had tripped him up last year. This year he was ready to run.

  Finally after what seemed like hours, he pulled up to the rustic log cabin that his family lived in. Over the years, they’d kept adding additions. His mother somehow managed to produce a son every two years on a schedule. The boys joked it was because their dad only got lucky every two years. But now there were six boys. Six big bear boys and the little cabin was cozy for three.

  Every other time his mom got pregnant, his dad and the older boys added another room. Now the one bedroom cabin had three additions on the back and sides. Two brothers per room. None of his brothers had found mates yet. Most of them would be at The Run.

  His oldest brother had given up on finding a mate that way. He said it was creepy to be chasing after young girls at almost thirty. Another brother was getting out of the army soon and out of state.

  “Anyone home?” Edward called out as he pushed through the door.

  “No.” A gruff reply came from the couch. His brother Miles was sitting there with a book in hand.

  “What are you? Howdy Doody?” Edward joked.

  “Nope, I’m a bear reading a book. Everyone already left. You’re late,” he replied calmly, not looking up from his book.

  “Tell me something I don’t know,” Edward shot back, heading to the bathroom. He took a quick shower and threw on fresh clothes.

  “Bye,” he yelled as he ran out the door. As it closed, he missed his big brother’s final words, “Good luck.”

  Edward sped the last thirty minutes to the campground. He found a place to park on the road leading into the cabins and jumped out. It was already twilight, and the elders were standing around a large bonfire.

  “Did you start?” he called out.

  “Sure did boy, you better get a move on,” one of them said.

  “Shoot,” he said running towards the tree line. A hand flashed out and grabbed his arm causing his bear to roar out in shock.

  “Settle down, Ace,” his friend Clay said in the darkness.

  “Shit man, you scared me. Why aren’t you out running?” Edward asked, shucking off his jeans.

  “Waiting for you. Besides I saw what I wanted early. Waited to see which way she went. You won’t believe it when you see her. She’s fucking hot, and I’m gonna tag her,” he said in a scary voice.

  “Oh yeah? Did you even talk to her?” Edward finished undressing.

  “Nope, I’m going to convince her with my animal magnetism. She’s blond, fit, with big blue eyes. Huge tits and a big round ass. Just like I like ‘em,” he said with a sly smile.

  “Fantastic, we running together?” Edward asked.

  “Hell no, go find your own. I’m heading west to track her. You go the other way. Fat Marla went south maybe you’ll get lucky that direction,” Clay laughed.

  “Har-har, I’ll do just fine, even with Marla out there. See you after The Run. We’ll grab a beer,” Edward offered. He was inching away; his bear wanted to shift and get moving.

  “Yeah, see ya,” Clay said.

  Both men shifted hard in a flash of shimmering color. Clay was a brownish-red bear while Edward was a large black bear. The bears sniffed in the air and chuffed before running off.

  Edward’s bear took off at a fast run, jumping over trees and digging his paws into the dirt. He ran across a number of males who were all focused on something, whether it was wrestling with another bear for fun or tracking down a female. Just because they tracked the female didn’t mean they’d get anywhere with them.

  You did not piss off a female by being too pushy. Simple fact was if her bear liked yours the chance they’d shift to human and you could get some lovin’ improved. Not everyone had sex, some just made out and fooled around. Edward would take anything, he was that horny.
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  He came across Marla. She’d gotten distracted by some late blackberries. Her bear happily sat on her ass munching berries. She was more big-boned than fat really, he thought.

  As Edward turned to head towards the river, his bear caught a scent. It was luscious, and the sweetness coated his tongue. He sniffed the air trying to figure out which direction it was coming from. He wanted it.

  Chapter 3

  Connie was running hard. She didn’t think she’d be taking a leisurely stroll, but the situation had changed.

  Once they had arrived at the campground, she found her parents had been right. She ran across a few other females that she’d met in the previous years. They were all doing their first runs tonight, and they were way more enthusiastic than she was. After a while, though, their excitement was infectious.

  They stood in a large group and checked out the males as they arrived. Giggling behind their hands, they talked about how strong they were, how tall and how handsome. The men, of course, were practically posing for the girls just to get a giggle and squeal out of them.

  Connie had to admit there were a lot of very sexy men there. Her bear was starting to take interest too. It was hard to ignore with that much male pheromones floating in the air. It made her breasts tingle, and her panties dampened.

  She should be embarrassed, but this was part of The Run. The smell of sex was not unusual. With the young men all sporting erections they couldn’t hide, and the girls getting wet at the thought of being chased through the woods, no one was immune.

  Yeah, Connie was starting to look forward to tonight. That was until she saw him. Off to the side of the group of men was a man standing alone. He was younger maybe in his early twenties. Of average height and weight, she could see his hair was black, dark and shiny clearly slicked back with way too much pomade.