A Forbidden Love

by Lorelei Moone

  Scottish Werebear: A Forbidden Love

  Book 3 in the Scottish Werebears Series by Lorelei Moone. Find Book 1 here and Book 2 here.

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  Alison Campbell’s reality is far from ordinary. All her life she’s been told that there are things that go bump in the night; dangerous creatures that are half animal, half man. Not only that, she’s one of the chosen ones whose job it is to protect humanity from these monsters by rooting them all out. That is why she’s trying to get close to some of them, by posing as an informant against her own people. However, the more time she spends with ‘the other side’, the less she can continue to believe that they’re inherently evil… In fact, she’s actually developing feelings for one of them. So, who are the real monsters?

  Bear shifter and local leader of The Alliance, Jamie Abbott is hot on the trail of The Sons of Domnall, a secret society of humans out to destroy all of his kind. After an attempt to bring down their Edinburgh cell, he and his team are scrambling to question their prisoners before the Sons inevitably mount a rescue effort. That’s when he meets Alison, the mysterious and curvaceous beauty who looks strangely familiar. It’s attraction at first sight, but Jamie can’t shake the feeling that Alison, the woman his bear has chosen as his mate, is hiding something big…

  Before long, the Sons of Domnall will strike back at Jamie and The Alliance. It’ll be time for everyone to choose where their loyalties lie: love or family, human or shifter?

  This paranormal romance novella is the third in the Scottish Werebear series. Although each part focuses on different couples, you'll get more enjoyment out of them if you read them in order, one after the other. Find Book 1 here and Book 2 here.

  This story is intended for adult audiences only.

  © 2015 Lorelei Moone

  Published by eXplicitTales

  Cover Design by Jacqueline Sweet

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Table of Contents

  Scottish Werebear: A Forbidden Love

  Story

  About the Author

  Prologue

  It had started like any other day. The boy couldn't wait to get out of the house and head to the beach at Applecross Bay. It was his favorite place in the world and nothing or no one could keep him away.

  "Don't go in the water, all right? You'll catch a cold. And keep an eye on your brother." The boy's mother called after him from the veranda but he barely reacted, just kept his eyes fixed on the horizon. "Did you hear me?"

  "Yes, mom." He took his little brother by the hand and dragged him along the narrow pathway through the dunes, around the s-bend uphill until their mother was out of view and they reached the crest of the hillock that stood between them and the windswept beach. He was twelve years old, old enough to know not to go into the icy waters. Old enough to take his brother to the beach. Not that his mother had realized that fact – she still acted like he was a baby.

  It was chilly and cloudy, a typical Scottish summer's day, but the boys were used to it. Applecross Bay was where they were born, where they belonged.

  "Shall we finish that sand castle?" asked the smaller of the two, who couldn't have been older than seven or eight years old, looking up at his older brother with big blue eyes.

  "Don't be stupid, the tide will have washed everything away overnight," the older boy responded.

  "So we start again. Make a better one?"

  The older boy shrugged. "You do it."

  "Okay, I will."

  They walked on further, downhill and finally across the damp sand until they almost reached the water. The beach was vast and pretty much empty, like most of the surrounding countryside. Some might say this place was desolate or lonely, but to anyone who knew better it was magical and full of endless possibilities.

  The older boy let go of his kid brother's hand and watched as he ran the rest of the way, plastic bucket and spade in hand, ready to leave his mark on the landscape. Let him build another stupid sand castle. Let it get destroyed again when the high tide rolls in.

  He had other ideas, as he tightened his grip around the net in his hand. He was going to climb the cliffs that marked the edge of the beach and catch some dinner. Sandcastles were for kids, but gathering food, that was a much more respectable and grown-up activity.

  A quick look back at where his brother had started digging in the sand revealed that all was still as it should be. The beach was empty as always. Why was his mother so paranoid about them coming out here? It made no sense. Nothing ever happened here, and his little brother knew better than to get into the treacherous waters.

  So he pushed onward against the strong winds coming in from the sea, straight towards the shiny black cliffs where he knew a lot of crabs and other wildlife liked to hide. He had seen a lobster there previously, and today was the day he would catch it. He was determined.

  Anyone could pick up crabs from the beach; that required no skill. But lobsters were a lot more skittish and cunning.

  The boy's determination grew as he clambered up the slippery rocks heading for the crevice where he'd seen his prey before. If only he could shift already, it would make things like climbing up rocks a lot easier. But he wasn't ready yet.

  It was around the thirteenth year that the bear side would become strong enough to assert itself. How he wished he could just skip this last year and become fully bear already. But time neither waited nor sped up for anyone, unfortunately.

  From the corner of his eye, the boy saw a movement. An animal? Perhaps a bird, trying to hunt for the same thing as him?

  Looking back down at the beach, he saw his little brother was completely oblivious to anything around him. He just kept filling his little bucket and turning it over to make turret shaped piles of sand, haphazardly positioned next to each other. It was childish. Amateurish.

  So the older boy once again focused on the task at hand. He wasn't about to give up that lobster to a seagull or something. No. That would be unacceptable.

  But when he looked around again he saw that the earlier movement hadn't been a seagull or other animal. Further up the cliff, gazing down at him, sat a girl. Red hair blowing in the wind, framing a freckly face featuring two piercing green eyes. She was pretty, for a girl, and about his age.

  "Hi," the redhead said.

  The boy paused for a moment. Was he imagining this? Nobody ever came here, except a few of the locals. And he'd never seen her before. "Hi."

  "Nice place. You live here?" she asked, while wrapping her arms around herself as though she was trying to keep warm.

  "Uh-huh. Where are you from?"

  "Edinburgh. We're only here on vacation."

  "Aha. Edinburgh," the boy repeated after her, hoping it made him sound knowledgeable. The truth was he'd never been to Edinburgh, or even spent much time away from his home just across the dunes at all.

  "What's your name?" she asked.

  "Jamie. Yours?" he responded.

  But she didn't answer. Instead she got up on top of the cliff and looked back at something - he wasn't sure at what, because he was too far down to be able to catch her line of sight.

  "Hey, I need to go. My dad gets real upset when he doesn't know where I am. See you around, maybe."

  Before he had the chance to think of anything else to say, she had climbed over the other side of the cli
ffs, and ran off into the grass-covered dunes leading away from the beach. Perhaps he should follow her, try to get to know her. But he couldn't bring himself to move, so he just stood there watching as she got smaller and smaller and finally vanished over the top of the hill.

  It was the strangest thing. When she was gone and out of sight, he wasn't even sure anymore if she'd actually been here or if he'd just imagined her. Nah, that was dumb. If he was going to imagine someone, he'd imagine someone totally different, not a girl. He didn't like girls much, thought they were mostly daft and spent way too much time fussing about stupid things like ponies and whatnot. No, he definitely wouldn't dream up a girl if it was up to him.

  The entire incident had distracted him sufficiently that he didn't feel up to the task of hunting his arch nemesis, the lobster, anymore. So he climbed down the cliff from the end where he had just come from and walked across the beach towards the beginnings of his brother's sand castle.

  The beach was empty again. Totally empty, like it usually was. The bright red plastic bucket and spade were lying in the center of the oddly shaped circle of sand turrets. There was no sign of his brother.

  Weird, had he gone back?

  The boy traced their steps back to the path they had taken across the dunes. He must have just gone home, right? As he got further and further away from the water, his heart beat faster and a sense of panic built in his chest. Why would he just leave? He wouldn't. They'd only just gotten here and his castle was far from finished. There's no way his little brother would have left his bucket behind either.

  He was completely out of breath by the time he made it home. His mom was sitting on the porch, reading her morning paper. As soon as she noticed him, she looked up and smiled.

  "Hey, Jamie. That was quick. Where's Matty?" she asked.

  He didn't know what to say to her exactly, how to explain it. At this moment Jamie realized two things: his brother was gone, and he'd never spend time down at the beach again.

  Chapter One

  It was late and most of Edinburgh's popular pubs were starting to close. Jamie Abbott didn't feel like heading home yet, but figured he might as well try to rest before another undoubtedly long day at the office.

  A confusing maelstrom of thoughts plagued him. He had worked for the Alliance for years, laboring away day after day without much to show for it. Until now. Now they'd captured some actual members of the illustrious secret organization of humans who were trying to eliminate shifters the world over: the Sons of Domnall.

  Three of them in total were being held in the basement underneath the Alliance office, while the rest had gotten away. Jamie thought about their unwillingness to talk. They may have made progress identifying and attacking what could very well be the base of the Sons of Domnall in Edinburgh, but what if they wouldn't learn much as a result? The only one who had said anything to him during questioning was the man in charge, who Jamie's colleague Aidan had identified as Lee Campbell.

  Jamie knew better than to ask Aidan how he had uncovered the man's identity or what history they shared. If Jamie started digging into Aidan's private affairs, he could be certain to receive the same treatment in return. That was something Jamie was keen to avoid. Although Jamie was the senior Alliance member at the office, technically, when push came to shove that wouldn't mean very much to Aidan. Bears weren't good at dealing with authority figures like wolves were. They valued their autonomy too much, so team work didn't come naturally to them.

  As Jamie had tried to gain further insights into the Sons and their activities in the city through intense interrogations, Campbell had been a constant source of frustration. He liked to speak in riddles. Jamie wasn't sure anything the man had told him was true. His gut told him that the one thing Campbell had definitely not lied about was that the Sons would plan a counterattack. They didn't take kindly to people, shifters in particular, interfering with their affairs and taking their members - brothers, as they called them - prisoner.

  But Jamie and his people had always been careful. The building they occupied was owned by another, much more senior Alliance member, who had registered it in the name of a shell company. As far as the outside world was concerned, it was an administrative office for a shipping company.

  After wandering the largely empty streets for about fifteen minutes, Jamie made it home. An impressive wooden door led to the ground floor of a Victorian house that had been converted into flats.

  Jamie had been occupying this space for the better part of three years now. Despite splurging on the finest furniture to make it as comfortable as possible, he barely spent time here. Somehow, no matter what he did, he found it impossible to feel at home anywhere.

  Jamie lived for his work, just like everyone else at the Alliance seemed to do. After hours, Jamie felt like he was waiting. For something, or someone. The girl? How ridiculous.

  He took off his leather jacket and hung it neatly on one of the elegant dining chairs he never used. Then he checked his mail, even though he already knew that all he had waiting for him were bills.

  It was four in the morning, according to the wall clock at the other end of the combined living and dining space. Jamie settled down in the armchair facing the TV that hung above the defunct period fireplace, but didn't switch it on.

  How could he convince those people to talk? They were fanatics who truly believed in their cause and that made them dangerous.

  Hell, we truly believe in ours too, don't we? Jamie sighed deeply and rubbed his temples in an attempt to soothe the dull ache that usually started to build up in there around this time. He knew he was exhausted, but he also knew sleep wouldn't find him just yet.

  He closed his eyes and went through a few breathing exercises he'd found online. With his eyes still shut, he breathed in sharply, then exhaled in a slow, controlled manner for as long as he could stretch it. Rinse and repeat.

  It wouldn't work, he already knew that, but he was nothing if not persistent in everything he did.

  After a few breaths like that, he opened his eyes again and started to look at the switched off TV. Jamie felt his body relax, the tension he'd been carrying around in his limbs slowly dissipating until his body was ready for sleep. The previously clear shape of the television blurred in front of him as he continued to stare at it.

  His mind refused to cooperate with his body's demand for rest, though.

  He needed to get those men to talk.

  Perhaps they knew something that would help him.

  Jamie's eyelids grew heavy until he gave in and let them fall shut again. He was surrounded by darkness, but only for a moment, before the blackest of black made way for the gray late summer's day that always came to him at this time of night. That day at the beach, back when he was only twelve years old. The day his brother had gone missing.

  The pain of the loss stabbed him right through the heart, as it had done back then, when he first realized what had happened. But that wasn't the worst of it. The worst thing was that his baby brother was only a small part of what plagued his mind.

  The girl.

  He couldn't get the girl out of his head.

  It made no sense at all. Why was he so fixated on her? He didn't remember when exactly the memories had started to change, because it had been so gradual at first. As the years had passed, so had his recollection of that day. Every night when these glimpses of so long ago infiltrated his mind against his will, the girl had aged right along with Jamie.

  They'd been probably the same age back then. Tonight what Jamie saw wasn't an awkward twelve year old, but a full-figured redhead in her thirties, like him. And so lifelike, too. Her green eyes sparkled in what little light could escape the hazy clouds overhead. Her smile could stop traffic, it was so radiant. Her ample curves invited further scrutiny, but Jamie resisted the temptation, as usual.

  Sometimes he did allow himself to focus on her beauty, just for a bit. But the guilt always got him in the end. It wasn't worth it. How could he fantasize about some
girl he might have very well just imagined there on the beach, when his actual, real little brother had vanished without a trace?

  How could a creature so beautiful have existed in the exact same moment as a loss so terrible?

  His inner bear kept insisting that if only he found her, everything would become whole again. Secretly that was why he'd joined the Alliance in Edinburgh rather than anywhere else, because that's where she'd said she lived. If he found her, perhaps he'd find him too. But if he found her, did it matter?

  Jamie frowned, furious at himself for even questioning the importance of figuring out what had happened to his brother. Angry for all the pain the disappearance had caused to his parents, who had never been the same since. Guilty over his own selfishness and carelessness. It had all been his fault, after all.

  Breathe in deeply, hold, slowly release. Who was she, though?

  Breathe in, and release. Why was she so important?

  Breathe and release.

  When Jamie awoke, he had no idea just when he'd fallen asleep, or for how long. He wasn't rested, but it was enough. He got up and stretched himself. Sleeping in a chair wasn't ideal, but it was better than not sleeping at all. A big mug of sweet instant coffee later, he felt ready for the day that lay ahead.

  He would question the prisoners some more today. And today was the day Aidan would bring in their human informant, Alison, for more thorough questioning as well. Perhaps she knew more than she'd initially shared. Jamie was also curious about how she knew about the websites in the first place. She'd been too vague about that in the past. Either way, it was time for Jamie to step in and take control of the situation before the Sons got the chance to plan anything.

  The first order of business would be to set up an appropriate area for them to question Alison. There was no way he would let her into the main office, and he certainly couldn't use the basement where the prisoners were kept. Perhaps one of the rooms upstairs...