Fake Fiancée Bear’s Enemies-to-Lovers (Company 417 Shifters, #41)

Chapter 11

Madeline

We’re standing in the middle of the forest and he stands naked in front of me. “I don’t understand,” I say but I do understand. At least I have a pretty strong suspicion about what’s going on. “Why are we out here?” again, I’m pretty sure I know.

“I can’t tell you,” he says, “I need to show you.”

“It’s okay,” I say. I reach forward and stroke his cheek. “You don’t have to worry about me or my reaction.”

I’m rich.

I’m sickeningly rich.

This is why I’m going fucking crazy trying to make a difference with all the money I have. This is why I’m doing everything I can to make something out of my life that will last for generations.

But the point is I’m sickeningly rich.

I was raised in a mansion.

The point I’m making is there’s no kink that’s going to surprise me and him wanting to fuck me out here in the forest isn’t going to freak me out at all. I lean forward and kiss him briefly. “I promise. You don’t have to worry about my reaction.”

He’s not entirely convinced because he steps back. I keep from laughing. It’s hard, though. The sexiest man alive is completely naked in the middle of the forest. The whole cloak-and-dagger act he put on to get here was cute as hell. I can promise you I’m never going to tell him that sex in the forest isn’t that kinky. It’s not even the kinkiest thing that I’ve done in my life.

“it’s okay,” I say.

And then he disappears.

I mean that literally! He’s there one second and then he’s gone the next!

No. He’s not gone. Well, yes, he is. The man is gone. But in his place is an enormous black bear. Damn it all, even though it happened in a split second, I saw him transform. Now. It’s called shifting. He’s a shifter. I didn’t fully believe they were real.

I went through this whole bullshit preparation for his kink. I was fully prepared to screw him and act all conspiratorial with him like his big secret was that he liked sex outdoors. I told him time and time again that I already knew and that I wouldn’t be… wouldn’t be…

I’m going to hyperventilate!

The bear in front of me is bigger than any normal black bear. It’s huge, in fact, as big or maybe bigger than an elephant. In proportion to the body, the head is small. Of course, the head is not small when considered apart from the body.

The head is bigger than I am above the waist.

There is a long muzzle, and it makes the snout look almost canine although I know bears aren’t canine at all. The legs look short and stout in the same way the body looks stocky but it’s just the size of the thing making none of it look elegant.

The fur is glossy black but I can almost see a hint of red in there like maybe the fur is one red hair for every nineteen black hairs but the red can only be seen…Who the hell knows? I can’t trust my eyes right now. I can’t trust myself at all!

I see a shock of white on its chest. It’s almost... almost magical. I think the bear must weigh several thousand pounds, and it must also…

Wait.

Wait… wait!

I feel my heart beating like crazy. I can see… I look at the bear’s eyes. I look at the creature’s eyes. It’s not a creature! It’s not… it’s…

“Oh, Lucas!” I breathe out and suddenly my arms are around that giant head.

I hold onto him like that for quite a bit. Finally, I kiss his furry cheek and say, “I love you so much.”

And then, just like that, he’s not a bear anymore. The giant of a man I love is standing naked in front of me again. My arms are around his midsection, and I guess it says something about how big he is even as a human that my hands can’t reach each other behind him.

He’s my big man.

And my giant bear.

“I love you, too,” he says.

My face is pressed against his cheek. I say, “You’re such an asshole for not telling me about this earlier.” I have the same tone of voice as my declaration of love just a few seconds ago.

He says, “Well, maybe if you weren’t a spoiled little brat I would have trusted you earlier.” His tone is similarly sweet and wonderful.

I’m silent for a while and then I breathe out, “You’re so big!”

I hear a half chuckle and he gently strokes my hair. “All shifters are bigger as the animal. I’m bigger than most bears but we’re all bigger. Most of the time it’s about one and a half times as big. Bears run closer to twice as big but I’m three and a half times bigger. All shifters are bigger. Except dragons. Nobody knows if dragons are bigger because there aren’t any natural ones left.”

“Dragons?” Holy crap, there are dragons?

“They think there are no natural dragons. They believe they’re dragons who can turn into a human. They don’t think they’re humans who can shift into dragon form.”

I pull back and look at him. “What about you? Are you a bear who can shift into human form or a human who can shift into bear form.”

“I’m anything you want me to be, Maddy,” he says.

I blush at that, which is pretty silly. Given the situation, I’ll give myself a break about the silliness. “Even though I’m never going to stop calling you an asshole and you won’t stop calling me a spoiled brat?”

“I’ll be happy to fight with you forever, Maddy.”

I kiss him when he says that and then I giggle. “So, your bear is three and a half times bigger than a normal bear?”

“We call them natural bears because we’re normal, too,” he says with a laugh.

“Oh look, here’s your first post-reveal asshole . Asshole.”

“Spoiled brat.”

“Anyway, the reason I say that about your bear being much larger than a natural bear, is because when I was holding you and I said you were so big, I meant something different entirely.”

My hand slides down his body and takes hold of exactly what I was talking about.

What a crazy life I have. I inherit more money than anybody has a right to have and people fight to keep me from giving it away. And then, the man who seems to be fighting against me, too, turns out to be the best man on Earth.

Because he’s more than just a man.

He’s a perfect man.

And he’s mine.

Did you enjoy reading Fake Fiancé Bear's Enemies to Lovers ? I hope so. I really enjoy writing about the Company 417 firemen shifters. You already know that if you’ve read any of the other books I’ve written. I’m definitely a shifter-loving girl. I don’t just have book boyfriends. I have a menagerie full of them! Bears, wolves, lions, tigers, and those giant majestic dragons!

I loved writing about Lucas. I think any girl can go for a sexy fireman, of course. To tell the truth, though, I go for the grumpy type. I love the guys that work so hard to build walls around themselves. And, of course, I love watching those walls come down because of a beautiful girl like Madeline. She’s got it made, right? She’s getting a hell of a sexy man, an incredible fireman, and the most powerful shift she can imagine. I just love that he can be a dangerous, giant, grumpy bear and she’s still going to keep him on his toes!

Maddy and Lucas are well on their way to a wonderful life, aren’t they? I love that they’re both really stubborn and I love that they both are certain the other person is being the jerk! I love all that energy and I love that they grow to understand each other.

And love each other, of course!

How about you? What did you like about the characters?

Naturally, I fell in love with Lucas while I wrote the book. That isn’t going to surprise any of you out there who’ve read my other Company 417 books. I fall in love with every sexy shifter leading man I write! I can’t help it and I always imagine I’m the girl, too. I guess I’m just hopeless when it comes to shifters!

Anyway, I really hope you enjoyed reading about Madeline and her bear shifter lover. These two have a really sweet and sexy happily ever after in their future, don’t they?

I’ll tell you one thing right now. I could go for that kind of happily ever after!

If you enjoyed this story, then I think you’ll love the next tale of paranormal romance in the Company 417 Fireman Shifters series.

For Payton Spencer, life just never seems simple. Sometimes it feels like her life is nothing but one horrible complication after another! She’s twenty-two years old but she feels like she’s lived a whole life of drama.

And then one day when she’s really overwhelmed with all the drama, she does something silly. She kisses Gage Hollings. She does it without thinking in order to make her best friend think she’s in a relationship.

The problem is Gage Hollings is her ex’s older brother.

He agrees to play along but now she’ll have to navigate all of the complications that arise from appearing to date her ex’s brother, an older man, and a sexy firefighter!

Well, she doesn’t mind the sexy firefighter thing. In fact, she gets overwhelmed with gratitude when he sticks with the fake relationship even when it gets tough. She ends up sleeping with this incredibly sexy man and it feels like the most profound moment of her life.

She doesn’t understand that it’s more complicated than she knows.

Gage Hollings isn’t just a sexy firefighter. He’s also a wolf shifter.

So now, what’s going to happen?