A Bride For The Bear (Bear Brides #1) Page 2

  She put her real name Abby as her profile name, and typed in a short paragraph about herself. She didn't filter anything. Perhaps she should have gone back and edited what she'd written, but she didn't. Snapping a picture rather hurriedly and haphazardly with her mobile phone, she uploaded the picture and cringed. She was frowning, her skin looked blotchy and her hair was messy and uncombed. She looked...exactly as she looked right now.

  Abby sucked in a sharp breath and closed her eyes.

  She could pretty herself up, make herself picture perfect, but what would be the point? She wasn't picture perfect on most days. She had made the effort to doll up when she went out with Kenneth, but in the end, looking pretty and being demure and mild hadn't helped the relationship one bit. In fact, it probably doomed it. She wasn't herself. She wasn't happy and obviously, neither was he.

  Pushing back from the small dining table, she went to grab the tub of butter caramel ice-cream from the freezer. Courage. She needed sweet, milky, frozen courage.

  With her mouth so full of ice-cream she was giving herself a brain freeze, Abby proceeded to hammer out a paragraph about herself. She didn't censor anything. She decided to be honest about her present financial situation. There was no point in hiding the fact that she was jobless. In the box labeled “occupation”, she filled in the word “unemployed” and left it at that.

  With her profile set up, Abby clicked on the message box to contact Cole.

  But at that instant when the message box popped up, her courage faltered.

  What should she say? She wasn't a werebear. She wasn't even a shifter. She was just a human woman. Would he even be interested in her?

  Abby gulped. She got up and paced around. She went to the kitchen and ate a cookie without tasting it. Then she went to the bathroom and splashed cold water on her face.

  She walked everywhere. To her bed, to the fridge, the toilet, the sink, the window.

  Everywhere but her small wobbly dining table where her laptop sat humming and blinking.

  In the end, she pounded out just one word and logged off quickly before she lost her nerve.

  All she managed to type was “Hi”.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Cole Jameson stepped back from the laptop and rounded on the three scowling men standing behind him and squinting over his shoulder.

  “There. All done. See, that wasn't so hard, right? In fact, it was painless,” he lied.

  His younger brother Brad, and his cousins Dalton and Tony, all shot him identical skeptical looks.

  “Whatever you say, Alpha. Whatever you say,” Tony muttered.

  Dalton slapped his younger brother's chest with the back of his hand. “Don't be mouthy, Tony.” Stepping up to the computer, Dalton sucked in a sharp breath and sat down. Anyone looking at his tensed expression would have thought he was facing the firing squad instead of a computer screen. Dalton stared at the blank questionnaire on the page with an equally blank mind. “Why are we doing this again?” Dalton blinked, his fingers freezing over the keyboard.

  Cole gritted his teeth and answered, “Because the Nightfire clan should be expanding and growing, not ageing and weakening.”

  “Right.” With that, Dalton got right to work, dutifully filling out his profile and even freezing his face into a smile long enough for the computer camera to take his picture and upload it onto the dating agency's website. Cole knew he could count on his Beta to support him. Dalton was his right hand man, had been ever since they founded the Nightfire clan and set up their landscaping business.

  At just eighteen years old, Cole had become head of what was left of their clan and family. There had been an ambush, an attack from a rival bear clan seeking vengeance and demanding the payment of a blood debt. The debt had been settled in blood, the blood of Cole and Dalton's fathers and the rest of their clan. Cole had managed to escape with his cousins and younger brother. Brad had only been ten at the time. Ten years of childhood. And then his family and his world had been brutally ripped apart.

  Tony had been twelve then. Even before Tony and Brad had hit their teens, both boys had seen far more bloodshed and violence than most bear cubs would see in their lifetimes.

  Cole and Dalton had both been eighteen when their clan was wiped out. They assumed guardianship of their younger brothers, protected them and brought them up as best they could. The four boys had escaped to Moonstone Creek, a quiet, deserted town at that time. In twenty years, Moonstone Creek had grown into a thriving shifter town, and Cole's landscaping business had taken off. He now owned Nightfire Landscaping, a successful, reputable landscaping company in Moonstone Creek. He had recruited young, loyal werebears into his company and gradually formed the Nightfire clan. Nightfire Landscaping now had around thirty employees, all members of the Nightfire clan.

  But to survive, the clan needed to grow and renew itself. Although more than half of his clan members were happily mated, less than half of that number were producing cubs. If a clan wasn't seen as strong and robust, with the next generation of members and leaders clearly in sight, that clan was easy fodder for other shifter packs and clans. Predators preyed on the weak. Cole couldn't let his clan be preyed upon. He had seen what happened to his dad and uncle, his aunts and the rest of his young cousins.

  Cole had always been resourceful and far-sighted. It was due to his quick-thinking and foresight that his brother and cousins managed to escape the bloodbath. They had survived. They had made a life for themselves. They had come so far.

  Cole would do everything in his power to ensure his clan's survival. When the other werebears joined his clan, their parents, grandparents and any other relatives they had who wished to join the Nightfire clan would be given membership and protection. He was responsible for a lot of lives. He had to constantly plan ahead. He couldn't wait for a problem to creep up on him and explode in his face. He had to get to the root of the problem and come up with a plan.

  And if the plan called for putting up an ad for a mate, so be it.

  He would bite the bullet and do it.

  “Come on, Tony. Your turn.” Cole smiled grimly when Dalton vacated the chair with a shudder. Dalton didn't seem to think that his plan would work, but he still supported him as his Beta.

  When Tony folded his arms, Cole bellowed, “I've paid all your registration fees in advance. All you have to do is fill out the goddamn online forms!”

  “Fine. You're the Alpha.” Tony sat down and picked up the computer mouse. “You do know that this is an online dating site, right?” Tony asked over his shoulder. When Cole glowered at him, Tony turned back with a shrug and started to type. “Just checking. There is a difference between dating and mating,” Tony mumbled. “Big difference.”

  Cole swore under his breath. “Yeah. But the chances of finding a female werebear are close to nil. There are so few of them and they're sniffed out and claimed as soon as they reach maturity. If we're to find a mate, she would likely be a human woman. And human women like to date first.”

  Tony made a non-committal sound as he straightened up for his mugshot. “How come it's just us?” Tony gestured at the four of them standing in Cole's spacious study. “How come the other guys in the clan don't have to do this?”

  Dalton put a hand on his younger brother's shoulder. “The other unmated guys in the clan are all in their twenties. There's no pressure for them to find a mate, yet. The only single guys over thirty in the clan...are us.”

  At that, Tony chortled at Brad. “Tough luck, kid. You just turned thirty.”

  To Cole's surprise, Brad smiled and took his turn at the computer cheerfully. “I think this is a swell idea,” Brad said, as he clicked through the online questionnaire enthusiastically. “This might work. And frankly, I'm hoping to find my mate soon. It'd be real nice to have a family. A mate, cubs...” He trailed off.

  Cole swallowed. He could understand Brad's yearning for a family. The boy had lost his family at a young age, had to run and hide and figh
t before he was a teenager. His longing to settle down and find love and stability was understandable.

  Cole stared at his brother's broad back and realized that his brother wasn't a scrawny, scared little boy anymore. He was now a strong, responsible, mature werebear, but he would always be his baby brother.

  Cole glanced at his cousins and exhaled roughly. They had been through so much together. They were his family, but Brad was right. It would be nice to have a mate and cubs, find a female who truly loved him and wanted to spend not just one night, but the rest of her life with him.

  “Let's go for dinner,” Dalton suggested as soon as Brad logged off. “Grab a beer and chill. It's been a long day. But it was a good day!”

  Cole nodded as Tony and Brad grinned. They'd just completed a major landscaping project and they had secured another two lucrative contracts today. They would be doing the landscaping and maintenance works for a park and a school.

  The rest of the team had gone out to celebrate. But Cole had ordered his brother and cousins to get their asses into his study and hunker down in front of his computer. He had an urgent mission for them, he'd announced.

  There was no time to waste.

  They had all bedded and dated many females, but they'd had no luck in finding their mates. Female werebears were rare. And there just weren't that many single human women in Moonstone Creek either. Whenever Cole traveled to the nearby cities for business, he had always found willing women to warm his hotel bed. Some of the women he met through work. Others just propositioned him in his hotel bar or lobby. They had all been friendly and eager to please, but to his disappointment, he'd found that most of the women were just after what was in his pants—his dick or his wallet. They just wanted a good time in the sack, or they wanted to be wined and dined and showered with expensive gifts. As the founder and CEO of Nightfire Landscaping, he had no problem taking a woman to a posh, expensive restaurant and buying her sparkling precious gems to adorn every inch of her body. He would be happy to lavish all these gifts on his mate, provide for her and pamper her. He just didn't want to waste any more time and money on groupies and gold-diggers.

  Cole hoped his brother and cousins would be able to find their mates through the dating site. He had called the agency and the lady on the phone had told him that as long as they answered the questionnaire honestly, they would be matched with women who shared their values and outlook.

  Well, Cole had answered all the questions truthfully. He didn't know about the women who used the site. He had done his part. Even if this online dating thing turned out to be a mistake, at least he'd given his best shot.

  If this failed, he would think of some other way to boost his clan's numbers and come up with some sort of renewal and succession plan. But for his brother and cousins' sakes, he wanted this matchmaking venture to work. Brad, Tony and Dalton deserved to be happy. They deserved to find their mates, find a worthy female who would have them and hold them, and build a warm, loving home with them.

  He would be lucky to find someone like that.

  Cole always led by example, so he had signed up with the dating agency just so his brother and cousins would follow his lead. He never shied away from painful decisions or hard, unpopular courses of action.

  “Come on,” Tony's voice cut into his thoughts. “You're buying dinner, Cole. If the guys hear about this, they're going to laugh their asses off at us. You owe us, Alpha.”

  “But if this works, then you'll owe him,” Dalton said soothingly. “If this pays off and we do find our mates, then we owe you, big time.” Dalton clapped Cole on the shoulder and quirked a lopsided smile.

  “Yeah, the membership fees aren't cheap,” Cole mock grumbled. “And they're non-refundable. So even if they match us with some completely loony, obsessive, shifter-mad female, I can't get my money back.”

  There was a collective shudder at his words. They'd all had their share of dealing with obsessive, stalking females who thought that landing a Jameson bear was the ultimate prize. Cole had founded the business, but his brother and cousins were co-owners of Nightfire Landscaping. Each of them was successful, rich and powerful, holding leadership positions in the Nightfire clan.

  They all piled noisily into his S-Class Mercedes-Benz, everyone talking at once as they shouted out their preferences for dinner and drinks. Cole started the engine and grinned.

  They might disagree and argue, even fight and brawl, but their bond was solid. They were bound to one another by love and loyalty, pain and laughter. They had shared so much, gone through so much together.

  Without them, Cole knew that he might not have survived all those dark, perilous nights. They had stood by him, fought with him, kept him alive and sane.

  “The votes are in! We want seafood buffet and beer!”

  “All right!”

  “Hey, Alpha, I think Bruno's grandmother can drive faster than you.”

  “You are buying dinner tonight, Cole. No amount of slow-driving will get you out of that!”

  “You think this is slow, eh?” With a smirk, Cole revved the engine and the big, powerful car picked up speed with elegance and efficiency.

  Brad turned on the radio and loud, thumping music filled the car. His Mercedes was sturdy and spacious, but the four of them seemed to take up every inch of the roomy, cushy interior.

  Tony and Dalton took turns shouting out jokes, and Cole was reminded of how strong and resilient his cousins were. Back when it had just been the four of them, huddled against the elements and hiding from their enemies, Dalton and Tony had whispered jokes to Brad and told him stories and amusing fables to distract him from the horror of their situation. Tony was just two years older than Brad, but he took it upon himself to look out for his young cousin. Cole knew that beneath that quick-tempered and loud-mouthed exterior beat the heart of a Jameson bear, strong, solid and courageous.

  The four of them were closer than brothers.

  They were clan, family and blood.

  And Cole was going to make sure their bloodline survived.

  Being Alpha meant he got the job done, even if no one wanted to do the job.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Cole killed the purring engine of his midnight blue Mercedes-Benz and stepped out. He had dropped his brother and cousins off after dinner. They lived on the same street, but they each had their own place. Dalton had a corner bungalow like him, while Tony and Brad preferred smaller terrace houses that were easier to maintain and upkeep.

  His sturdy pickup truck was parked beside his Mercedes. He used the pickup for his landscaping work, but for fun and pleasure, he preferred the comfort and luxury of the Mercedes-Benz.

  Stepping through the front door of his sprawling bungalow, Cole headed straight for his study. He always made it a point to check his emails and reply to his customers' queries promptly and professionally. Nightfire Landscaping had built up a solid reputation through word of mouth, and Cole was grateful for the support and recommendation of his loyal customers.

  He switched on his laptop and checked his work email first. There weren't any new emails in his inbox. He had already replied to all his customers' queries via his mobile phone.

  After a moment's hesitation, Cole logged into his personal email. The messages from that dating site would be directed to his personal inbox, but he didn't think there would be any response. Not so soon anyway.

  “What—” Cole blinked in shock at his overflowing inbox. What in the world...

  Frowning, he clicked through the list and scanned the messages. They were all from that dating website. In less than twenty-four hours since his profile went live, he had received more than a hundred messages.

  Cole's frown deepened as he read through the messages. The women's opening lines were all flirty, saucy and even blatantly sexual.

  Swearing under his breath, Cole began to delete the messages. These women were all looking for a good time, a sugar daddy. They wanted to be wined and dined, pampered
and pleasured. Some asked point-blank how much money he made and what car he drove. Others were more explicit in their demands. They wanted to experience shifter sex, have a beary good time, howl and growl, and be devoured between the sheets. The animal puns left a bad taste in his mouth.

  Cole left the rest of the messages unread. He didn't even bother deleting them. New messages kept coming in. The very first message he received was at the bottom of that long, tedious list of messages, but Cole never got to that. He had seen enough.

  Cole clicked on the button to de-activate his profile from the dating site and pushed back from his desk. This was a big mistake. He thought he had been clear enough when he specified that he was looking for a mate. He had even stated that the woman had to be willing to relocate to Moonstone Creek and build a family with him. Where in the world did these women get the idea that he was after a one night stand? He'd thought that if he stated clearly and unequivocally exactly what he was looking for, he would weed out the unsuitable candidates. Obviously these women didn't bother reading through all the information in his profile. They just wanted what they wanted, not caring what he wanted.

  Cole hoped his brother and cousins would have better luck with this dating site, but he was done. He'd had quite enough of gold-diggers, groupies and crazies. He had been young and wild once, but he was no longer a horny, angry young bear. He had worked all that pointless rage and lust out of his system. He had bedded enough females to know the difference between fucking and mating, lust and love.

  He pushed his hand through his hair as he stood at the door of his study and stared out at his large, tastefully furnished living room. His house suddenly felt too big and empty. Cole closed his eyes for a moment and allowed himself to imagine his beautiful mate pottering about the house, and calling out to a bunch of lively, rambunctious bear cubs. It was a beautiful image, and the thought made him smile. He could almost see the face of his longed-for mate in his mind. He could see her lush, curvy body, her wavy brown hair and pretty side profile. She was laughing, turning around to smile at him...