Fearless Bond (Bears of Beauville #1)

Chapter 20

20

CALVIN

My heart was pounding like crazy, but it didn’t feel like fear. I was strangely excited. Really angry too, but mostly excited.

In the kitchen, I faced Barclay, who gazed at me with concern.

I grinned up at him. “That went well.”

Barclay shook his head incredulously. “Um. If you say so.”

“I mean, he was horrible. But I think he got the message.”

Barclay’s eyebrows flew up. “You expressed yourself crystal clear. It might take him a while to process.”

He hugged me, and I stretched on my tiptoes to kiss him.

“You were on fire out there,” he murmured against my lips.

“I’ve never seen him so mad.”

“Serves him right.” He smiled, and I could tell he was proud of me. And wasn’t that the best feeling in the world?

After a commotion in the hallway, four bears and a Laurel spilled into the kitchen.

Monty slapped my shoulder, sending me forward a few inches.

“You’re a tough little cookie, Calvin. Epic showdown.”

Laure glanced outside through the kitchen window and laughed. “Damian fell on his face. They’re not leaving anytime soon. The car’s stuck.”

“That thing isn’t going anywhere without help,” Jordy said. “Is your father familiar with winter tires and snow chains?”

I snickered. “Not sure.”

“Should we pull them out?”

“Later,” Monty said. “Let them sweat for a bit.”

I glanced at Hawke, who just shrugged.

“Seems like my guys took pity on them,” Laure said from the window. “They’re trying to push them out.”

I walked up to have a look, only to see the sedan skid and slide into a pile of snow on the other side of the road. One of Laure’s bodyguards jumped out of the way at the last second.

Hunter squinted through the window. “Oh damn. Now I can’t get out either. They’re blocking the road.”

“You in a hurry?” Jordy asked. “I can move them out of the way for you.” His tone and expression suggested that his method of “moving” wouldn’t be conventional, and Hawke might protest.

“I’m good for a while,” Hunter said, patting Jordy’s back.

“Can I get some coffee?” Laurel asked. “I’m freezing.”

Barclay tensed. “Um. Of course. I do have coffee, but I’m out of oat milk.”

My friend grimaced. “Oat milk? Eww. Just black, thanks.”

Visibly relaxing, Barclay gave Laure a wide smile. “Coming up. Anyone else want tea or coffee?”

The bears announced their preferences, crowding the coffee machine. Monty’s voice was the loudest. “Do you have those three-color chocolate chip cookies? Where are you buying those?”

“Let’s go start the fire,” I told Laure when he’d gotten his coffee. I tugged him toward the living room.

By the fireplace, Laure sat on the floor and watched me as I peeled stripes of dry bark off a birch log. I piled the thinner logs on top of the pieces of birch bark and lit the fire. It crackled to life, the logs quickly catching from the burning bark. I balanced one thick log on top.

My friend huffed. “I wouldn’t know how to do that.”

“Barclay showed me. It’s easy. Birch bark is a great natural fire starter.”

Leaning back on his hands, Laure gazed at the fire as it engulfed the wood, flames reaching higher.

“You’re really determined to stay with him.”

“Yes. Really.”

He sighed, then glanced through the glass walls to the snowy forest. “It’s a nice place, I guess.”

“Barclay built most of the furniture himself. He’s a woodworker.”

“He left his banker days behind. I read that in the background report.”

“You didn’t have to invade his privacy like that.”

“One, he told me to. And two, I’ve learned the hard way not to trust anyone.”

“Will you finally trust me?”

Maybe it was a low blow from me. Laure winced, but then he sat up and threw an arm around my shoulders. “I’m sorry, Cal. I should have listened to you. But I was so shocked.”

“I’ll admit, my track record with boyfriends isn’t the best.”

Laure chuckled. “Neither is mine. But it seems like you’ll be fine now.”

“Barclay’s amazing. I love him.”

“Yeah. Well. He’s hot. I’ll give you that. All of them are kinda hot. I didn’t think I would dig the whole hairy and beefy thing, but maybe I wouldn’t kick a couple of bear shifters out of my bed if I happened to find them there.”

The image of Laure flanked by a shirtless Monty and Jordy flashed in my head, but I chased it away. It weirded me out. “Don’t let Monty hear you, or you’ll never get rid of him.”

“See, if he shut up for a second, I’d be all over him. But he never closes his mouth, does he?”

Now we could laugh at the earlier standoff with Monty and Jordy in the yard. I’d missed Laure. Warming our feet in front of the fireplace, just chatting, I got reminded of those easy summers a long time ago, before adulthood came and took our innocence.

My father and Damian were still outside, but I wasn’t bothered by their presence anymore. I was done with them both.

After half an hour, Barclay poked his head in to say that he, Monty, and Jordy were going to dig my father’s sedan out of the snowbank.

Laure wanted to watch. I added a couple of logs to the fire so it wouldn’t die and reluctantly followed him back to the kitchen. Hawke and Hunter sat at the table with coffee mugs and a half-eaten plate of cookies. They stood and joined us at the window.

Except Barclay and his friends were nowhere to be seen. The yard was empty. Down the driveway, Laure’s bodyguards shoveled snow around the trapped sedan while my father oversaw them with a phone to his ear. I could see Damian’s silhouette in the back of the car. The lazy coward he was, he wasn’t even bothering to pretend to help. The reminder stung. Why had I ever let that man near me?

Before I could spiral down the familiar rabbit hole of self-deprecation, Laure sucked in a startled breath next to me.

“What the fuck?!”

I gaped as three bears sauntered into the yard from behind Barclay’s shed.

They were massive, humungous, unnaturally huge. Giant furry monsters from a different world where the laws of physics didn’t apply.

The one in the front was grayish-brown, and even down on all fours, he was as tall as a horse. I didn’t know how, but I knew it was Barclay. It was in the way he moved. He turned his head and must have spotted me in the window because he seemed to smile. His muzzle opened into a sinister grin, and his tongue lolled out.

Monty must have been the bigger light-brown bear to Barclay’s left. Jordy, with black fur and leaner than the other two but no less imposing, stayed a few steps behind.

“Holy fucking shit, Cal,” Laure breathed.

“I know,” I piped up.

I was stunned but not afraid. They were fascinating.

Laure’s alphas backed off into deep snow away from the road and stood there, faces pale and mouths open. The leader let go of the shovel.

My father froze. His phone slipped from his hand, landing among lumps of snow at his feet.

Barclay walked up to him. He lifted one paw in a way that made my stomach clench for a second. But he merely nudged my father to the side.

Father scrambled to retrieve his phone and joined Laure’s security team, who were up to their knees in the snow among the trees.

The three bears surrounded the sedan, put their front paws underneath, and lifted it from the snowbank as if it were a cardboard cutout, not a three-thousand-pound car. They set the car neatly in the middle of the road.

Damian flailed inside. I would have enjoyed listening to him shriek with terror, but if he made a noise, we weren’t able to hear him.

My father came to life, scrambling toward the driver’s door. He jumped in and started the engine, seemingly eager to leave as soon as possible.

Except Barclay blocked the road.

He rose on his hind legs, the sheer mass of his body dwarfing the vehicle.

And then he snarled.

His enormous canines showing, spit flying, he let out a booming roar that vibrated through the ground and shook the damned house.

“Don’t do anything stupid, Barclay,” Hawke muttered behind me. I’d forgotten about him and Hunter.

But Barclay was done with his display. He got back on all fours and casually strolled around the car and back to the yard.

“Fuck me…” Laure whispered next to me. “I think that was a clear message, wasn’t it?”

“I think so too,” I agreed in a shaky voice. “My father might think twice before coming here uninvited again.”

“High chance Damian pissed himself in the back seat.”

I laughed at that. If it was evil of me, so be it. He deserved far worse.

Still in fur, Barclay tilted his big round head toward me and winked before all three bears disappeared from view.

My father’s sedan moved, carefully inching away. He drove ridiculously slowly, but soon enough, the twin red lights were gone.

Laure shook himself. He put his hands in his pockets and rocked on his heels. “Can I see them shift?”

“They don’t do it with clothes on, Mr. Riley,” Hunter said.

Laure grinned excitedly, waggling his eyebrows at me.

“Ask Monty,” I told him. “I’m sure he’d eagerly let you watch him get naked.”

Hunter and Hawke laughed as my friend grimaced.

The three bears returned after a while—they were human, dressed, and presentable, with Laure’s security team in tow. I met Barclay in the hallway, and he hugged me, placing a long kiss on my forehead.

“They’re gone,” Monty announced as he stomped his boots, spreading chunks of snow on the tiles. “But Mr. Riley’s men could use a break.”

Barclay threw a rag at him. “Dude. You’re flooding my house.”

Monty looked like he was about to protest, but then he noticed me standing by Barclay’s side and smiled apologetically. He crouched and wiped the floor.

Jordy showed Laure’s bodyguards to the kitchen and refilled the coffee machine. Hunter excused himself, heading back to work, and Hawke left soon after.

We settled in the living room, the sofa groaning under the weight of three bear shifters. Barclay pulled me into his lap, and Laure put his feet up on the chaise. Soon, Jordy began hinting that he and Monty should also leave, but Monty blatantly ignored him, instead gazing starry-eyed at Laure.

“I should go,” Laure said.

“Where are you staying?”

“Not sure. There’s a large town two hours away, isn’t it? Green Peaks?”

“You and your team are welcome to stay over,” Barclay offered. “I only have one guestroom, but we can unfold the sofa…”

“Mr. Riley, allow me,” Monty interrupted. “I have a B&B here in town. I’d be happy to offer you a complimentary suite for the night.”

Jordy gave Monty an incredulous look. “A suite ?” he hissed.

Laure squinted at them suspiciously, but Monty was undeterred. “Top floor. The bathroom is newly renovated. And I have a couple of twin rooms ready for your team.”

Barclay raised his eyebrows at him. “Weren’t you fully booked?”

Monty’s smile was unapologetic. “Depends on who asks.”

Laure seemed to consider his options, looking from Monty to Barclay and back. Then he glanced at me. “I think you and Barclay will appreciate some time alone. My guys and I can stay overnight at the B&B. Is there somewhere we could get a decent dinner?”

I assured Laure that Jordy’s pub was nice, and Jordy promised to reserve a corner booth where Laure would be least likely to be spotted and harassed by any random fans.

“On that note,” Jordy said, “I’m opening in a couple of hours. Monty, let’s go.”

Monty shook Laure’s hand for an unnecessarily long time and repeated his invitation to come to the B&B. Finally, Jordy was able to drag him away. The rumble of snowmobiles from outside rose and quieted as they rode off.

We agreed that I’d meet Laure the next day and said our goodbyes. With four-wheel drive and winter tires, Laure and his bodyguards were able to navigate Barclay’s driveway without any mishap.

Standing in the kitchen window, I watched the car leave. When I turned around, Barclay stood right behind me. His eyes were bright with something akin to mischief.

“What are we…” The rest of my sentence became a squeal as he scooped me into his arms and kissed me.

Finally, Barclay and I were alone.

He set my butt on the kitchen counter and stepped between my thighs. His soft beard caressed my cheeks. Burrowing his hands under my hoodie, he hummed into the kiss.

It began to sink in.

I’d done it. I’d told my father and Damian everything and hadn’t broken down. My father knew, and he’d left. Neither he nor Damian had any power over me. I belonged with Barclay, and I was going to have a baby.

Barclay petted my stomach under the hoodie and smiled against my lips.

“How are you, my love?”

“I’m great.”

“And what do you want for lunch?”

“I don’t know. I’m afraid I’m not much of a cook. We always had staff.”

“You don’t have to be. I happen to like cooking. But if you want, we can make something together, and you can learn.”

“Okay.”

“Let’s defrost some soup now, then we can hop on the snowmobile and go grocery shopping. We can make a proper dinner together to celebrate.”

“That sounds lovely.”

He brushed my nose with his.

Gazing at his smiling face, I wondered how the whole shifting thing worked. I raked my fingers through his beard and studied the fine lines around his eyes. He looked so very human.

“Will you let me see you in fur again one day?”

Barclay shrugged. “Sure. I can do it now.”

“You can? Right now?”

“Yeah. Why not?”

I opened my mouth and closed it.

“Let me just pull the soup out of the freezer, and we’ll go to the living room.”

Barclay dumped the contents of a plastic container into a lidded pot and set the burner on a timer.

“Come on.”

I followed him to the living room, where he stripped without ceremony.

“Ready?” he asked.

“Y-yes,” I stammered. I hadn’t expected him to be so casual about it. But then again, for him, this was everyday life.

The transformation was much faster than I would have thought possible. He quite literally burst into a giant ball of fur. He plonked down on his butt as he grew, filling the space until I was staring at a grizzly bear sitting on the living room rug with his clawed paws in his lap.

God, he was a beast. Even sitting down, he was much taller than me. His fur looked shiny and soft, not matted like the bears I’d seen at a zoo in the city when I was younger.

His big brown eyes looked a little needy. He raised his paws and made a come-here gesture.

My heart pounding, I approached him carefully. I was about to pat his arm when he grabbed me and pulled me into his lap.

Oh wow. He was so warm and fluffy. I combed my fingers through the pelt on his chest and arms, and he lowered his head, poking my hand with his nose.

“You’re asking for scratches like a puppy,” I said.

I couldn’t tell if the rumbling sound he made was a laugh or a growl. I stroked his cheeks and the short, velvety fur on his muzzle.

I’m petting a humongous grizzly.

Except he wasn’t scary at all.

“You’re magnificent.”

He licked the side of my face, and I spluttered out a laugh.

“Hey!”

Another rumbling sound reverberated through his chest and into me.

“See, this will be great if I ever get cold again. But it’s impractical when I want to have a conversation with you.”

Without letting go of me, the bear shrunk, fur disappearing under my fingers, only thick body hair left. Barclay, naked and very much human, held me in his lap.

The transformation made me dizzy.

“Better?”

His eyes twinkled, and he was grinning at me.

Instead of replying, I kissed him.

He was naked, all those muscles and planes of warm skin under my hands… Then his cock grew hard under my ass. I tore my hoodie off before I slid onto the floor and began licking it.

Knowing how powerful and magical he was must have triggered something primal in me. I was ravenous for him.

I was about to mouth his cockhead when the timer beeped in the kitchen.

“Damn,” Barclay muttered. He gently tugged me away.

I pouted as he dragged his underwear back on, covering his erection.

“You haven’t eaten anything since breakfast,” he told me sternly. “Which was just a piece of toast and a banana.”

“I was about to have a treat,” I protested.

Barclay’s lips twitched. “You can have it after lunch. I need to feed you better now that there’s two of you.”

With the promise of sex after lunch, I relented. I was indeed hungry.

Barclay looked happy when I polished off the plate and asked for a second helping. Then he looked even happier when I knelt on the kitchen floor and sucked him off.