Big Bear Papa: BBW Werebear Surprise Baby Romance (Sweetwater Father Bears)

by Anya Nowlan

  Even Silas quirked an amused brow at her, but a glare from Devlin drove home the point that he had no trouble putting some more hurt on the detective if the man wasn’t going to be cooperative.

  “Fine. Yes, Easton hired me. He thought his wife was getting more secretive all of the sudden, going out more, stuff like that. Then the tabloids started reporting about Samantha being seen hanging out with some guy, and that was the last straw. I was paid to just confirm the rumors, at first.”

  Silas paused for a moment, swishing around a mouthful of blood before spitting it out.

  “I followed her around, and sure enough, she was sneaking around hotels with some younger guy. They were barely able to keep their hands off each other. I took some pictures, brought them to Easton. That was all the evidence he needed. So he gave me another job.”

  “To kill Samantha?” Carlie asked, sounding appalled, even though they had already come to this conclusion on their own.

  Yet having their suspicions confirmed made the whole thing more real, more despicable somehow.

  “The kid, too. Easton had a DNA test done. The bitch wasn’t even going to tell him the brat wasn’t his,” Silas said, letting out a harsh but hollow laugh.

  Devlin didn’t see anything funny about any of this, but then again, he wasn’t a sociopath like Silas. No amount of money could ever justify murder, especially not the murder of an innocent baby. This guy had more than a couple of screws loose, that was for sure.

  “I’m going to give you a choice,” Devlin snarled, grabbing Silas’ face and forcing the man to look at him. “You can either testify to all of it, or you can die right now.”

  The disdain in Silas’ eyes was hard to miss as he stared at Devlin, defiant despite his circumstances.

  “Fine,” he finally ground out, pulling his face free.

  There was one thing you could usually count on with cockroaches like Silas. Their will to survive came before all else.

  “Glad we could come to an understanding,” Devlin said, standing up to wrap an arm around Carlie’s shoulders.

  “I can’t believe this might really be over,” Carlie murmured under her breath with her voice slightly shaky, before staring up at him with a beaming smile. “I can have a normal life again.”

  “Could a man that occasionally turns into a bear be a part of that normal life?” he asked, feeling unsure all of the sudden.

  The feelings they had for each other were real, more real than anything else in his life, but was it enough for Carlie to consider sharing her life with him? Amber eyes glimmering, she grinned at him, slipping her hand in his and squeezing it tightly.

  “Well, since you asked nicely…”

  Epilogue

  Carlie slowly opened her eyes, stretching her arms above her head and rolling over to rest her head on Devlin’s chest.

  “Morning, babe,” he smiled, kissing her forehead.

  “How long have you been up for?” Carlie asked through a yawn.

  “A while.”

  “And what have you been doing all this time?” she asked, craning her neck to get a better look at her handsome man.

  If I’m not the luckiest woman in the world, I don’t know who is.

  “Oh, you know. Watching you sleep.”

  Devlin smiled that wide, honest smile of his and she couldn’t help but match it. There had been a lot more smiling in her life as of late.

  “That definitely doesn’t sound creepy at all,” she laughed, nestling into the crook of his shoulder.

  “The little guy’s already moving around in there, I could see it as you slept,” he said, placing a warm hand on her growing belly.

  “I think I’m going to miss the times when there were more girls in the house than boys,” she sighed, covering his hand with hers.

  “Shifter babies can be a handful, but if anyone can handle it, it’s you.”

  After all they’d been through, Carlie was inclined to agree. If she and Devlin managed to take down a dirty cop and a powerful businessman, they could pretty much do anything.

  Easton Rowland’s trial had been a real circus, considering he was as well-known as he was wealthy, but it had been over mercifully quickly. Silas kept his word on testifying against him, and he had been determined to take his employer down with him.

  Once the detective was named as a suspect, physical evidence corroborated his part in the crime showed up pretty quickly, and no way was he taking the blame for all of it. It turned out he had recorded and documented every conversation, transaction and meeting between himself and Easton, leaving no doubt as to the businessman’s connection to the murder.

  Looks like cops don’t make good hitmen after all, she mused wryly.

  After the mountain of evidence, the jury didn’t take long to deliberate. Both Silas and Easton were rotting behind bars, and they were going to stay there for a long time.

  While justice was served, nothing could bring back Samantha Rowland. The actions of Easton and Silas had left Ava motherless, and that wouldn’t change with a guilty verdict.

  No family came forward on Samantha’s side to claim the little girl, and her father was nowhere to be found, either. Silas claimed to not know anything about it, but from the way the recordings from his conversations with Easton seemed to conveniently cut out whenever Samantha’s affair was discussed, Carlie didn’t buy it.

  Whoever the man had been, he was most probably dead, and Silas wasn’t about to voluntarily confess to another murder.

  But that didn’t mean Ava didn’t have a family. Carlie had fallen in love with the little girl during their adventures together, and filed for custody the first chance she got. Devlin supported her all the way, as smitten with the little girl as she was.

  And now here they were, still living in the same cabin they rented when they first got to Sweetwater, a family of three with another one on the way. The community there had accepted them with open arms, especially after their story came to light.

  It seemed that overnight, Carlie went from psycho kidnapper to brave savior in the media’s eyes. Many stations had called for an interview, offering her the opportunity to cash in on her fifteen minutes, but she politely declined. Her name had already been cleared and that was all she wanted.

  That, and a peaceful life with her new family.

  It didn’t stop the news vans from camping out in front of their home for a while, but a couple of stern discussions with Devlin had them packing up fast enough. Apparently the wrath of a papa bear could be pretty damn scary when he wanted to get rid of you.

  She had thought starting over in Sweetwater would be hard, especially since they didn’t really know anyone here, but she’d ended up making more friends there in a month than she had in all the years she’d spent in St. Louis. It wasn’t long before she was offered a job at the local hospital, which she happily accepted.

  It was a nice change of pace from St. Louis. Instead of gunshot wounds and stabbing victims, her patients mostly came in complaining of things like a sprained ankle or a bad cough. At the end of the day, she came home happy, not exhausted, and it wasn’t just because Devlin would be waiting for her.

  Though that definitely helped. A lot.

  She was helping people, like she had always wanted, and she got to come home to a loving family. Carlie still thanked fate every day, for bringing her and Devlin together. Who knew where she and Ava would be right now if he hadn’t been the one driving by her broken down car?

  “I think I can get the new place ready before our son is born,” he said, brushing a curl from her face.

  “Just don’t push yourself too hard, okay? We’ll be fine here a little while longer.”

  It felt like all Devlin did when he wasn’t with her was work, either at Ethan’s construction company or on a cabin all of their own. One with enough space for two kids, maybe even more.

  Clattering from Ava’s bedroom pulled her out of her thoughts, as she disentangled herself from Devlin’s warm body.

&nb
sp; “I should go see what she’s up to,” Carlie said, but Devlin shook his head at her.

  “You just relax, I got it,” he smiled, before giving her stomach a kiss.

  “How about one for mommy, too,” she teased, grinning at him.

  Crawling back up the bed, Devlin pressed his lips against hers, starting out with small little kisses, before taking her face in his hands and hungrily claiming her mouth, leaving her dizzy when he finally pulled away.

  “How’s that?” he smirked, blue eyes glimmering in the sunlight.

  Damn if he didn’t know exactly how to leave her breathless.

  Sinking back into bed with a sigh as Devlin got dressed to go check on Ava, only one word came to Carlie’s mind.

  “Perfect.”

  Loved what you read and can’t wait to find out what happens in sleepy Sweetwater? Join Anya’s newsletter to be the first one to hear about new releases, catch sneak peeks and receive advanced reader’s copies! You'll receive a FREE book upon joining up, so don't wait!

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  If you’ve missed the previous books in the Sweetwater Father Bears series, then pick them up here!:

  Big Bear Daddy

  Big Bear Father

  Want to read more about this little Wyoming town with all the shifters you could want? Check out the Sweetwater Brides series here:

  Big Bear Problems, Book 1

  Don’t miss the excerpt of the next book in this series, Big Bear Dad, on the next page!

  Big Bear Dad Excerpt

  Pushing aside some branches, she finally came upon a more travelled road and followed it up to a small cabin. There was someone out front, a large guy swinging what looked like an axe. The sound of wood splitting drew her attention to the pile of firewood at his side.

  A regular lumberjack, she mused, strolling closer. I’ve been away from the wilderness for too long.

  The man’s head whipped around as she cleared the treeline, as if he had somehow sensed her there. Remy raised her hand in a friendly wave, so as not to seem she was trying to sneak up on the guy. The lumberjack let his axe fall into the tree trunk in front of him, leaving it stuck there, and studied her with his hands on his hips and a glower on his face, though it cleared a moment after.

  An odd sensation filled her gut as she walked up to the front of the cabin and got a good look at him. Sweat beaded at his forehead and left a trail down his neck, making the front of his gray t-shirt stick to his chiseled chest.

  Oh… Okay… A hot lumberjack.

  Angling his body towards her, his broad shoulders nearly seemed to block out the sun. Glancing at his strong arms, Remy was sure he could chop up enough firewood to keep the whole town warm in the winter without much effort.

  And then there was the way he looked at her.

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  This winter, cuddle up with a hot shifter!

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  About the Author

  Anya Nowlan is a USA Today Bestselling Author who loves sex and writing about it. The sexier and naughtier the better. She mostly writes paranormal and fantasy erotic shorts, focusing on shifters and their lucky mates. Her stories are bite-sized, just what you need to soothe that craving for brave women and growly alphas with a big side-order of smutty sex.

  Anya lives in Boston with her boyfriend and several dogs of varying sizes and levels of mischief. She can't go through a day without chocolate and has an unhealthy addiction to purses, but every girl is allowed her little vices, right?

  If you have enjoyed her shorts or want to just shoot the breeze a little, don't hesitate to contact Anya via e-mail: anya.nowlan@gmail.com.

  Thank you for reading!

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