Drew stood there silently for a long time.
“Drew?” Kelly said.
“Thanks, Kelly,” he muttered before hanging up the phone.
It went from being the best morning of Drew’s life to the worst. All in the time it took to brew a pot of coffee. He’d been right about one thing that morning, though.
His life would never be the same.
Chapter 4
Nine Months Later
Drew Bock plunged his oar into the white water. His crew mate, Zach, paddled hard behind him in the inflatable raft as they rode over pummeling rapids. Someone had gone missing on a rafting trip, and the Rescue Bears had to find them on Fate River.
“Rocks ahead!” Zach shouted over the sound of the crashing torrent.
“Veer left!” Drew shouted back, driving his paddle into the waves.
Their boat pitched as they drove it away from a rock outcropping jutting up from the flailing water. Cold drops splashed into Drew’s face and ran down his beard. He panted into the wet air, pushing his hyper-strong bear muscles to the limit. He and Zach aimed the raft into a smooth current and glided down the river into calmer waters.
Drew surveyed the environment, taking in both shores. On the northern bank, he saw the shredded remains of a red and yellow rubber raft.
“Right bank,” Drew said, pointing with his oar.
They angled the boat toward the shore, and Drew hopped into the cold water to pull the boat out of the water. Zach hopped out behind him and they dragged the boat up onto the twisted branches and roots that tangled along the waterline.
There wasn’t much of a beach with the water this high. But there was a rocky spot where Drew and Zach could get their footing and examine the ruined raft.
“Are you picking up a scent?” Drew asked Zach.
“Vaguely. You?”
“Same.” He pulled out his walkie-talkie and clicked on the talk button. “Brew Bear to Alpha Station. We’ve found the remains of a rubber raft that we believe belonged to the missing rafters. We’ll climb to the ridge above the river and survey the area.”
“Copy that, Brew Bear. Big Bear and Wild Bear are coming in over land to your coordinates.”
Drew put his walkie-talkie away, and he and Zach started to climb up the rise above the river. Gripping the twisted, exposed roots in the muddy wall, Drew pulled himself up one foot at a time.
When Drew and Zach made it to the top, they came out onto a grassy meadow that gave visibility of the area all around. Zach squinted into the sun. His GoPro camera was still attached to his helmet.
“Why the hell are you wearing that thing?” Drew asked. Rescue missions weren’t a time for messing around.
“I started a YouTube channel. I already have over five thousand followers.”
Drew lifted an eyebrow at his friend. “You’re internet famous, bro? Can I get your autograph?”
“Don’t be a hater just because you didn’t think of it first,” Zach said, sniffing the air for signs of the missing rafters.
“I don’t want to be on your YouTube videos,” Drew said, reaching for the camera.
Zach flinched backward, out of Drew’s reach.
“Watch it, man,” Zach warned.
“What did Levi say about that thing?” Drew asked.
“What Levi doesn’t know won’t hurt him.”
“That’s assuming I don’t tell him,” Drew reminded him.
They continued along the riverbank, examining the shore below as they walked.
“I know you’ve been in a tizzy since your mate left, but that’s no reason to be an ass,” Zach said.
Drew clenched his teeth. He hated being filmed, but he hated being reminded of his mate even more.
When he’d met Quinn, the heat and attraction had been instant. They hadn’t been able to keep their hands off each other. He liked a woman to rip his clothes off as much as the next red-blooded man.
But Drew was more than a man. He was a bear. When the curvy woman had begged him to mark her, he’d done it. Gladly. She was his mate. The website had proved it and so had his bear the moment he got her scent. There was no question she was his.
That didn’t stop her from leaving him. He hadn’t heard a word from her since. Nothing in his life had ever prepared Drew for something like this. He’d found his mate, only to lose her.
As a shifter, Drew knew Quinn belonged to him. However, Quinn was a human. And she blamed Drew and “shifter spells” for her loss of control.
It was true that shifter pheromones were strong when it came to their fated mates, but it wasn’t a spell. It was just pure, unadulterated animal instinct.
The night they’d gotten together, he’d felt it. So had she. They’d both enjoyed the heat of the moment, but Quinn couldn’t accept what they’d done.
There was a deep sense of self-loathing that churned inside Drew’s gut every time he thought of Quinn. To have his one and only true love run from him like he disgusted her… It hurt.
The crew hadn’t stopped jabbing him about it since. If Drew had to hear one more Rescue Bear comment on Quinn, he was going to punch someone.
Drew had already spent a good portion of the last nine months getting far too acquainted with the effects of his own product. The average human got pretty loaded off just a pint or two. It took a bit more for a bear, but Drew owned the entire brewery. Lately, even Wild Bear Shane had been telling him to take it easy.
When Shane Keenan starts commenting on another bear’s destructive behavior, it might be time to take notice. Drew couldn’t deal just yet. It was still too fresh. Maybe in ten more years, he’d come to terms with the fact that he’d never be with his fated mate again.
The sun shined down through the parting clouds. Drew looked across the meadow to the tree line of a forest and then looked along the shore. There were footprints that led from the muddy bank into the trees.
“Look,” Drew said, squatting down to inspect the prints.
Zach squatted beside him and both men examined the printed mud.
“They point to the forest,” Drew said.
“Let’s go.”
They stood and started to follow the footprints until they came to the tree line. From behind them, Drew heard a branch snap. Zach spun around and they saw Angus and Shane walking through the thick forest.
“Took you long enough,” Drew said.
“We’ve been walking six miles an hour in rough terrain,” Angus stated.
“Don’t mind him. He’s pissy today,” Zach said.
Drew growled at the blonde polar bear and made another grab at his GoPro camera. Zach twisted away and stood between Angus and Shane, nodding knowingly.
“See what I mean?” Zach mocked.
“Leave the camera alone,” Angus said.
As the second in command of the Rescue Bears, Angus’s word was second only to their alpha Levi’s. Drew exhaled sharply. Sometimes Angus was easier to listen to because he was such a softy.
“Fine. But you know Levi wouldn’t like him uploading mission footage to the internet.”
“Just let it go for now, Drew. We have rafters to find.”
“We tracked them from the bank to this area,” Drew said.
Shane started to sniff the air. As the wild bear of the crew, Shane had some concessions the rest of them didn’t. Levi let Shane take bear form way more often than the rest of the crew.
Shane did have wilderness skills and highly acute animal senses, so it made sense. But Drew still couldn’t help resenting that Shane got to do whatever the hell he wanted while the rest of them had to follow the rules.
“Are you shifting?” Drew asked Shane, watching Wild Bear unzip his coat.
“I’m picking up a scent, but it will be much easier in bear form.”
“Fine. Let’s all go buck wild. Who has to follow the rules anymore?” Drew said, throwing his arms in the air.
Angus looked at him with concern, and Zach stepped back, protecting his GoPro.
&nb
sp; “Drew,” Angus started.
“Do not say her name, Big Bear. I swear to God.”
The rest of the bears exchanged glances. Drew was getting so hot under the collar he didn’t know if he could stand it any longer. In that moment, he wondered if he would even be able to stay on the Rescue Bears anymore, no matter how long they’d all been together.
After the crew had settled on Fate Mountain, Drew had opened Fate Mountain Brewery with his shifter veterans benefits. He’d been happy. Until she came along. With Quinn gone, there was a gaping hole in his heart that nothing could fill. Not even copious amounts of his famous lager.
Shane pulled out of his clothes and dropped everything on the muddy forest floor. It had been raining nonstop for almost two months. All the waterways were full and the ground was waterlogged.
Wild Bear backed up and roared. He contorted and shifted into bear form, landing on four big paws under the cover of the Douglas fir forest.
Drew rolled his eyes at Shane. Wild Bear always took credit for things that anyone else could do if they went in bear form on a mission. Maybe Shane’s senses were stronger than most bear’s because he’d spent so much time in bear form, but all of their senses were stronger as bears.
Policy dictated that the rescue crew not shift unless absolutely necessary. For Shane, “absolutely necessary” meant whenever Shane wanted. But Drew knew he wasn’t angry at Shane because Shane got to shift. Drew didn’t really care about shifting. He didn’t much care about the rules either.
What really irritated Drew about Shane was that he’d had his fated mate dying of love for him for fifteen years, and he’d left her over and over again. Now that Shane and Lily were together for good, it just irritated Drew all that much more.
Lately, pretty much everything irritated Drew. He’d refused to let Geek Bear track down his missing mate. If Quinn didn’t want to be found, he wasn’t going to go find her. She’d made her decision. The mark that bound them was deep inside them both, yet that human woman was able to walk away like it meant nothing.
Shane trotted off into the muddy forest, sniffing the air. The rest of the crew followed him until they came to a thicket that obstructed the visibility from the other side. When Angus pushed it away with his mighty Big Bear muscles, the crew could see the rafters huddled on the other side, shivering and cold.
Everyone pulled out thermal blankets and started to warm the rafters. Two human men who’d thought they could tame the rough waters of Fate River during the rainy season. Freaking idiots. Drew pulled out warming packs and put them inside the men’s wet clothing.
“Brew Bear to Alpha Station. I have eyes on both targets. The men are displaying classic signs of hypothermia. Administering warming measures. Requesting air extraction.”
“Copy that, Brew Bear. Helicopter will be arriving at your location in fifteen minutes.”
When the helicopter arrived, it touched down in the open field between the forest and the river. The crew helped the injured rafters to safety. Shane and Angus took the helicopter back, but Zach and Drew had to recover the raft.
They went back to where they’d anchored it on the river and climbed down to the shore. With another mission complete, Drew was eager to get back to his brewery. He and Zach pushed the raft out into the water and started over the rapids. Zach kept making a bunch of enthusiastic sounds behind him as they fought the rapids all the way back to Fate Mountain Village. Drew had to assume he was putting on a show for his YouTube channel. That was Zach, always putting on a show.
When they pulled the raft out of the water at the docks in Fate Mountain Village, Levi was there with his crew cab truck, waiting to pick them up. The men put the raft in the back and they all got inside.
Drew got in the back, hoping no one would talk to him.
“Where are we celebrating?” Zach asked.
“The guys have been at the brewery for a few hours already.”
“Great. I’m missing a celebration in my own brewery,” Drew said from the backseat.
Zach turned around and looked right into Drew’s eyes, his stupid GoPro still on his helmet. Drew narrowed his eyes at the polar bear.
“I’ve heard you’ve been celebrating maybe a bit too much lately,” Zach said.
“You’re one to talk, Zach. Do you ever stop? Does Levi know about your YouTube channel?”
“Bears. Stop. I’m dropping you two off at the brewery, having one beer, and going home. I don’t want to hear any more about this YouTube channel. Zach, if I find footage of a single target on that channel, you’re off the crew.”
“I never put targets in my videos,” Zach said, aghast.
“Good,” Levi said flatly.
Drew growled and crossed his arms. Levi drove across town and parked in front of the brewery. It was a weekend night and the place was packed. Music sang out into the street as the door swung open. A few humans tumbled out as the Rescue Bears stepped inside. Drew saw the guys at their table. He, Levi, and Zach walked over and sat down with the rest of the crew.
Corey, Angus, and Shane were already there, enjoying another pitcher of beer. Drew poured himself a pint and took a long swig. The rest of the crew looked at him like he didn’t have a right to drink his own product.
“What?” he said, wiping foam from his beard.
They all shrugged and took swigs of their own pints. What did they know? Since Corey had invented his shifter/human dating site, Mate.com, almost all the bears had been matched with their fated mates. Shane had Lily after all these years. He’d even found out he had a son he’d never known about. Levi had found Juliet, and together, they’d become even more established as the leaders of the clan.
Just six months ago, at Levi and Juliet’s wedding, Angus had found his own mate, Poppy. Angus had just come back from his tropical honeymoon. Their wedding vows had been so saccharine it made Drew want to puke.
Corey adamantly did not want a mate, and Zach…who knew with Zach. At least Zach still had hope of one day finding her. For Drew, all hope was lost. He’d lost it the moment Quinn had run away from him nine months ago.
Chapter 5
Quinn Jacobs looked out the window at the crashing waves below her little house. She’d been hiding here for so long, she barely remembered her old life anymore. Before she’d spent that fateful night with the bear shifter, Quinn had been a fun, flirty city woman, working as a successful PR rep in Portland.
She turned away from the window and rubbed her round stomach. The little bundle inside stirred, kicking its strong legs right into her belly button.
“Ouch,” Quinn said, rubbing her hand over the kicking little feet. “What am I going to do with you?”
The baby didn’t answer. It as a question Quinn had been trying to figure out since she’d first learned of her pregnancy. Now, she was running out of time. The baby was due in three weeks, and she still hadn’t come to a satisfying conclusion.
She sat at her dining room table in the rental house she’d been staying in since she’d fled Portland. Bills littered the tabletop, covering the scratches in the wood. How had she let herself fall so far?
At one point, Quinn had been the most successful of all her friends. She had a high paying job, a great apartment. She dated attractive men and went on luxurious vacations. Always the life of the party, Quinn had never been lonely. Now, she hadn’t seen or spoken to any of her friends in almost a year.
She’d dropped out of all social media, quit her job, and changed her phone number. Maybe it had been a little severe, but at the time, total seclusion was all that had made sense. Quinn thought about the night she’d spent with Drew, the bear who’d put his seed inside her.
That was the most confusing thing of all. How had she let herself be marked and mated by a shifter?
The fact was, the feelings she’d had for Drew scared the living daylights out of Quinn. Never before had she been so out of control for a man. He made her want to give up control. He made her want to surrender to him and let him c
laim her to the core of her being. After he’d done it, she’d come to her senses. All she could do after that was run.
Maybe some girls found eternal happiness with shifters, but the way Drew’s pheromones made her feel was unnatural. It was like he had some kind of power over her that made her lose all reason and rationality. Quinn couldn’t have that. She was in control of her life. No one else could ever take that from her. Least of all a shifter with sexy pheromones that made her want to let him bite her neck and claim her as his own.
Quinn didn’t belong to anyone but herself.
The baby stirred again and she sighed. The piles of bills were getting too difficult to keep on top of. She’d maxed out all her credit cards and no one would give her any more credit. After nine months of living on savings and credit, she’d run out of options. Quinn wasn’t any closer to making sense of her life than she had been on day one.
She often asked herself what possessed her to keep the child. But she knew the answer. It might be a shifter. Drew might have put her under some kind of sex spell, but the baby was still hers. It was her flesh and blood. Her son. And she wouldn’t give that up, no matter who the father was.
Picking up a disconnect notice from the utility company, she felt a hard knot form in her chest. She had forty-eight hours to pay a five-hundred-dollar bill. In the old days, it wouldn’t have been a problem. But now, Quinn didn’t have five hundred dollars. Her last credit card only had a hundred dollars of credit left.
With the baby coming any minute, she had no idea what to do. Quinn had never been so muddled or confused. She’d been a good student, a successful professional. She’d stayed on top of her bills and had an enviable life. Now, she was moments from complete financial ruin and had a baby coming any minute.
She didn’t even have a crib! All Quinn had bought were a few onesies and a stuffed bear from the general store in the small coastal town where she’d been hiding. All this time, Quinn had believed that if she just had time and space to think, she’d figure out what to do. Unfortunately, her plan hadn’t worked at all.