by Marie Mason
She finished her chocolate thinking about her situation. Ever since she’d moved to Riverton and spied the lumbering bear in his tight-fighting uniform, she’d started spinning Cinderella fantasies featuring him as Prince Charming. She’d waited patiently, hoping that the instant feeling of belonging wasn’t one-sided. She knew, just knew the big bear was attracted to her. She’d caught the flame of desire in his eyes too many times not to believe it. As she waited for him to acknowledge there was something between them, her heart was slowly being broken in two.
Rising from the booth, she pulled some money from her pocket. She had no doubt Jagger had paid for their food and drinks on his way out, but he’d hurried away before he left a tip. Walking back into the cold December air, she wondered, for the first time, if waiting patiently meant waiting forever.
****
A few days later, Ally walked into her empty house and pulled off her coat and mittens. It was only three weeks until Christmas and there was only one more week of school. It would be a busy week getting ready for the pageant the students performed every year and finishing out the semester. There was no snow in the forecast, but there was a cold front moving through. She hoped it wouldn’t snow, not yet. It would be a real bummer for the students if they didn’t get to have their Christmas party. During the last couple of weeks, she’d set aside time each day so the students could make presents for one another. She smiled thinking of the ones they were making for her and trying to hide in their desks.
Perhaps that’s why she’d become a teacher, so she would receive presents from her students. She knew that in addition to the ones they made for her in class, she’d receive less than perfectly wrapped candles and boxes of candy or some other inexpensive item. No matter what she received, she would enjoy the gifts because her students gave them to her. Since she had no family, these small tokens of affection would be the only presents under her Christmas tree. She sighed, thinking of her childhood and the fun her family had always had at the holidays. She’d been on her own for a very long time it seemed.
It was still early in the day. One of the perks of being a schoolteacher was getting off work in the afternoon. It was especially convenient when you had errands to run, like Ally did today. Even though she had no family, she celebrated Christmas full out every year. She wasn’t ashamed to admit she started decorating right after Halloween, sometimes before. She’d already put the lights up in her yard and around the small house so there was very little to do besides get her Christmas tree. She hadn’t had a real one in years and she’d promised herself she’d get one this year to celebrate her move to Riverton.
Deciding there was no time like the present, she went tree shopping. Decorating the tree would keep her mind off a certain someone.
CHAPTER TWO
JAGGER THREW AWAY the remains of his three microwave dinners, his lunch for the day. Hunger still ate at him but it wasn’t a hunger food could easily satisfy. She was what he wanted and in a way he had never wanted a woman before. Even the last couple of nights spent in his animal form hadn’t eased the ache he felt between his legs. If anything, it brought the lust he felt closer to the surface. Lust for a chocolate haired human as curvy and voluptuous as any female bear. The bear in him wanted to plump her up even more. The man in him simply wanted her.
There were other women available that he could bed. Shifter females who hadn’t found their mate yet or human women who hung out in shifter towns waiting for a chance to bed a shifter. Like Tiffany. The woman had been after him and every deputy in the department for years. In his younger days, he’d had his share of that type of woman. A woman familiar with the no holds-barred, no strings attached sex that came with taking a shifter to bed. He’d gotten tired of that lifestyle quickly. He let the unfamiliar feeling of a grin wash over his face as he remembered Ally’s reaction to Tiffany. She’d been jealous. But her feelings for him didn’t change things.
Jagger was a loner by nature and having a bear inside only reinforced that need. His mother had died long ago and he had no siblings. He’d never known who his father was. He wasn’t looking for a mate, didn’t believe in the whole fated mate thing. Over the years, he’d seen other shifters, mostly wolves and cats, who had found their so-called mates and created a loving family unit. But he was a bear. Bears didn’t do families. Even in the wild, the male left, leaving the female to raise the cubs on her own. For years, he’d thought his animal kindred had the right idea–no strings, no attachments.
He’d seen what were called true matings between bears and a humans go astray. Men driven crazy with so-called love when the women they’d mated decided they didn’t like being the mate of, oh, say, a thousand pound grizzly bear who could break them in two. He couldn’t blame the women. Women were disrespected and hurt by human males every day. Why would they think shifters would be any different?
But a shifter would never harm its mate. Male or female, a shifter would take his or her own life before ever laying a hand on a mate with anything other love. It was one thing to know that, another for a mate to truly believe.
He pulled a stack of reports toward him. He liked being the sheriff of the small shifter town. Liked everything but the paperwork, he thought with disgust. Nothing held his attention for very long these days, his thoughts too preoccupied with thoughts of Ally. He’d taken this job in the small town of Riverton over a decade ago and hadn’t regretted it. Until she had come to town. He tried to tell himself that he didn’t love the sassy schoolteacher. That what he felt for her was lust. That, if he took her to his bed, he could satisfy the itch she’d aroused and settle back down into his solitary existence.
Lonely.
He shut off his bear, refusing to acknowledge the need growing every day inside the animal. The bear wanted a mate. The animal craved cubs.
But the man was leery.
He knew it was unwise to keep his animal under such control, but he couldn’t help himself. He had put a steep price on keeping his sanity. The smell of her, the touch of her leg against his… He sprouted another erection, remembering. He wanted Alley only to slack the hunger inside him and his bear. He was not in love with her. Did not feel the pull of a mate. He lusted after her curvy body, nothing more.
Liar. His bear cuffed at him.
It had been almost a week since he’d dragged Ally into the diner for a cup of coffee. That day, he’d seen her from his window chatting with the human male. A man who wanted Ally all for his own. His bear had risen inside him and he hadn’t been able to control the animal. Hadn’t wanted to. Seeing her with another man… well that just hadn’t been acceptable to him or his bear. A wave of possessiveness had risen inside him and he hadn’t been able to stop. He’d stalked from his office, intent on getting her away from the male as quickly as possible.
With great difficulty, Jagger pulled himself away from that line of thinking. The woman invaded his mind in a constant, relentless fashion. He knew it was his bear feeding him the thoughts and feelings about the woman. His bear wanted its mate. The man was still afraid. Ally was human. What if she decided somewhere down the road that she didn’t want to be tied to a grumpy, sometimes uncivilized bear shifter? Fell out of love with the man who only knew how to dominate and control? What if she died?
He was afraid, plain and simple. Big, bad bear shifter sheriff was afraid of one curvy woman. That was sure to make headlines in the small town paper.
A knock sounded on his door, breaking through his thoughts once and for all. Pushing away the overdue reports, he called for the person to come in.
“Hey, Sheriff, I’m going on patrol now, if that’s alright?” Steve was a new wolf shifter in town and Jagger’s newest deputy. The town hadn’t planned on hiring him until after the start of the new year, but with the heavy snow of last week and more in the forecast, he’d come aboard earlier. He was eager to please and had the potential to become a good deputy. Unlike Jason who needed to keep his dick in his pants and his thoughts off Jagger’s mate.
“Shut up.”
“Uh, sorry, sir.” The deputy stepped back, a look of confusion on his face.
Jagger stood up. “Not you. I was talking to—” He stopped himself before he could say anything else. His deputies would throw him in a cell if they found out he was constantly arguing with his animal. There was nothing more dangerous than a bear about to go rogue.
He usually made the newbies pull patrol, but today he needed to burn away the energy firing though him before he did something stupid. Like shift in the middle of his office and run to Ally’s cabin and claim her the way both he and his bear wanted.
“No, I’ll do it.” He grabbed his hat from the edge of his desk, taking his jacket even though he didn’t need it. His bear kept him plenty warm even in the low digit temperatures the town was currently experiencing. He wore it more to fit in with the humans. Humans were accepting of the shifter population as long as the differences between them weren’t pointed out in obvious ways. Being able to withstand very cold temperatures in nothing by his shirtsleeves was obvious. Striding out the door, he turned to his left and started his patrol.
Ally drove straight to the only Christmas tree lot in town. Another bear shifter in the area owned the lot. In the spring and summer, it acted as a farmer’s market. According to the town gossip, the bear shipped the award winning firs and pines across the nation. He’d been the one to plant the tree in the Christmas square a long time ago. How many, Ally wasn’t quite sure. She did know the man was older than Jagger.
Ally liked the man because he was a true conservationist. For every tree he cut down, he planted two in return. That was a lot of work, but he was smart. He used the local high school kids–human and shifter–to help replant his forest. That gave youth a chance to bond with nature and the shifter plenty of free labor.
She climbed from her car and waved at the man running the Christmas tree stand. Henry was a fox shifter and was the oldest shifter she’d ever met. He had graying hair that had probably once been carrot red and walked with the gait of an older human. Henry didn’t price the trees; instead, he haggled with the customers. No one minded since half of the proceeds provided presents and food to the nursing home and any child unfortunate enough to spend the holidays in the hospital. She walked through the rows of trees, smiling at the Christmas lights the fox shifter had strung around the lot. As she took in the fresh scent of pine, she wondered what Jagger did for Christmas. Did he get a tree? Spend the holidays with his family? Did he have a family? How could she love a man she knew so little about?
She had no animal inside her to tell her theirs was a match made by fate. And apparently Jagger wasn’t listening to his bear. How could she make the stubborn bear shifter realize they were destined to be together? Sighing, she stopped, staring at the tree in front of her but not really seeing it.
“Is this the one you want?”
A deep timbered voice sounded behind her, making her jump. She turned around, hand on chest. “Don’t do that,” she started to scold until she got her first look at the man who had spoken. In the last six months, she thought she had seen every resident in the small town. Apparently, this one had been hiding because she knew she’d never have forgotten him. She licked her dry lips. If she wasn’t so infatuated with the stubborn sheriff…
“Is this the tree you want?”
“Umm, what?” Befuddled was how she felt.
“The tree.” He pointed behind her.
“Yes, yes. This is the one I want.” She had to smile at his terse sentences since his behavior reminded her of Jagger. He brushed past her, picked up the eight-foot tree as if he were gathering firewood, and walked away. She followed behind, humming along with the Christmas carols Henry had blaring in the air.
He leaned the tree against the sturdy fence that surrounded the small RV Henry used as an office. “If you need it delivered, let him know.” With those parting words, the handsome helper disappeared. Before she could ask who the man was, Henry was talking.
“Ally, did you find one you liked?” He had finished up with his other customer and stood by the fire that burned in a used oil drum. It knocked the chill off the air and added to the overall ambience of the tree buying experience.
“Yes, I did. The trees are beautiful.” She pulled out the wallet she’d shoved in her jacket pocket before she left the car, not wanting to be bothered with a purse as she searched for her tree. “How much?”
Henry rubbed at his chin. “Well, now that’s an eight footer there. Took about ten years to grow so—”
“Here.”
Another deep timbered voice sounded behind her, but this time Ally didn’t jump. She’d know that voice anywhere. Jagger. He handed Henry two hundred dollar bills before she could protest.
“Thank you, Sheriff.” The man smiled and she knew it would be useless to argue with either of them about the price or the fact that Jagger had paid for her tree. That didn’t mean she wouldn’t say something.
“I can buy my own Christmas tree, Jagger.” She braced herself and turned around. It was always like that. His magnetism hit her just as hard as it ever did. She had to lock her knees to keep from falling into him. She was a woman who’d always prided herself on her ability to stand on her own two feet, yet she wanted nothing more than to throw herself into his arms. “What are you doing here?”
“Patrolling.”
“Oh.” For one brief moment, her heart fluttered, thinking he had seen her and followed her. Even though she was disappointed, she couldn’t help but smile at him and he gave her a small smile in return. It wasn’t much, but it was enough, was always enough to keep hope burning inside her.
“Do you really think a tree this big will fit in your house?” The tree was taller than Jagger and almost as big around as his bear. In other words, it was a damn big tree. He focused his attention on the tree leaning next to Henry rather than the sight of Ally’s rose red lips. Damn, but he wanted a taste. Needed a taste. He hurt deep inside.
She licked her lips, making him want to bend down and do the job for her. “I think it will. I have high ceilings.”
“What about getting it home, or into a stand?”
“I thought I’d ask Henry if he could deliver it later.”
While they’d been talking, Henry had moved off to help another customer. Jagger stepped closer, his bear needing to be as close to her as possible. He breathed in, the scent of the evergreen trees mingled with Ally’s sweet heavenly goodness. The scent of children usually lingered on her after a day in the classroom. As he breathed, he realized her scent held another layer, as if someone had been this close to her and not so long ago. The other scent he did not recognized, but he knew it was the scent of a bear shifter. “Who helped you with the tree, Ally?”
“What?” She glanced at him, startled by his words.
“Who was he, Ally?” Breathing through the hot, possessive feeling, Jagger stared at her, waiting for an answer. She pushed her hair behind her ears and he wanted to nibble on the enchanting shells.
“Who was what?”
“The man. The male that helped you with this tree, the male that rubbed against you.”
She stalled. “You can tell someone helped me?”
“Yes. Now, who was he?” His ability to sense the other male appeared to have struck her dumb. Or maybe it was his over-the-top show of possessiveness after six months of tiptoeing around their obvious attraction to each other. He, and his bear, had thought they had plenty of time, plenty of time to claim their curvy mate. Smelling another man’s scent on her, however faint, shot that theory to hell and back. The volcanic rush of jealousy that coursed through him when he’d realized another shifter had been sniffing around his mate had him ready to turn bear and challenge the male.
Mine.
His bear cuffed as Jagger accepted the fact that fate had finally caught up with him. And given him this beautiful, intelligent woman all his own.
“The man works for Henry.�
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Jagger looked around. He didn’t sense any other bear shifter. Henry and a couple of young wolves on the far side of the lot looking at a tree were the only ones around.
“I’d never seen him before,” Ally admitted.
“A stranger.” It was a statement, not a question. Jagger knew everyone in town and the surrounding area. Or had. Bears didn’t do the whole pack thing, but they were usually respectful of other bears, acknowledging the other animal’s territory. To have a bear, especially an unmated male, come into his territory without an introduction was almost the same as issuing a challenge. A challenge Jagger would be more than happy to accept. He’d have to have a talk with Marcus for allowing the bear into town without giving him a heads up. Jagger considered the town of Riverton his. His to protect.
Just as Ally was his to protect. Today she had on tight fitting jeans and a colorful Christmas sweater beneath her coat. It revealed the V of pale skin at her neck and the abundant swell of her cleavage. Had the other male gazed at her like this? In a nervous gesture no doubt caused by his unrelenting stare, she pulled the hem of her sweater down over her hips. Her wide, healthy hips. He shoved his hands in his pockets, struck once again by the unbidden, now not-so-unwelcomed need to touch. Twin arrows of heat shot through him from his chest to his groin. Jagger set his jaw and ignored the sensation. This was not the time nor the place.
Ally had a tiny, concerned crease between her brows that he wanted to erase with the pad of his thumb. He wanted to touch her there, then trace the full red surface of her lips, his forefinger painting the deep dip in her upper lip. The pulse in her throat caught his attention. That sweet spot where her neck joined her body. Where a bear marks his mate.
Her scent changed as he continued to stare at her. The sweet innocence faded as another familiar scent permeated the air. Now she smelled sweet and spicy. She looked up at him through the shadow of her long lashes.
