by Sable Sylvan
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“I’m not about to ruin the surprise,” said Nathan. “But I think you’ll be very happy when you see it.”
“So it’s something I can see. Thanks for the clue, I’ve totally figured it out now,” said Meredith sarcastically. She was getting impatient even though she hadn’t even known there was a secret until a few minutes ago.
Scott smiled and kissed Red on the cheek. “You’ll love it. Trust me.” His wife could be sassy at times, but her sweetness was ever present, so she was never catty or mean.
“I do,” she said, holding Scott’s hand, and Nathan took her other hand, and as Meredith rode the bear, and the boys held her hand, she admired the view of the Port Jameson woods that she’d never had before. The shifter paths were a distant memory to her, a memory that felt like a dream, and the line between the worlds of reality and of imagination were blurred in her subconscious.
The shifter path soon turned to cobblestone, and Meredith couldn’t believe her eyes when she was what was in front of her: a small cabin in the woods, the front covered with crawling potato vines. The cabin had a small lit lantern, electric but it was made to look like a gaslight lantern, and it looked like something straight out of a fairytale. “This is that special project you were talking about,” said Meredith. “I thought it was just another property.”
“It’s anything but that,” said Scott, helping Meredith dismount and cradling her in his arms as they walked to the threshold. “It’s your new cabin, fully furnished, with plumbing, electricity, internet, and of course, coffee. We tried to make it look just like the one you told us about, the one from your dreams. Whenever you want to get away, with one of us or alone, you can come here to have your space. You can do whatever you want here: take up painting or writing, or music, or anything your heart desires, and the space is yours, all yours.”
“I don’t know what to say, thank you seems like it’s not strong enough,” said Meredith, wiping a tear from her eyes. “This is absolutely amazing, guys. Thank you so much.”
Nathan pulled her up into a big bear hug. “We’d do anything for you, Red. I’m glad you love it.”
“We’re glad you love it,” corrected Brandon, who had shifted back into his human form. Stark naked in the woods, as nature had made him, he followed behind Scott who carried Meredith through the threshold of her new cabin.
At the end of the day, getting lost in the woods all those years ago had helped Little Red find true love. They could be grizzly at times, but the bear shifter men loved their Red more than most men could be expected to, and in the end, a petite curvy girl with a basket of treats melted the hearts of the big, bad bears.
...and they lived happily ever after...
Sneak Peek: Shifterella and the Billionaire Bear
Eleanor Albertson abhorred Sunday nights: they marked the end of her weekends but worse, the dinners she had to have with her family. She got along well enough with her father, but her stepmother and her two stepsisters were another story entirely. After her mother had passed, her father had married someone completely different than his curvy brunette past wife. His second wife was as cold as she looked, a tall blonde who was stick-thin and had pursed lips, as did her daughters, who were sitting right across from Eleanor and whispering back and forth.
“What are you two talking about?” asked Eleanor, bored out of her mind as her father was away on a business trip. Whenever he was away, Eleanor was stuck with the company of her stepfamily.
“It’s not nice to pry,” said Eleanor’s stepmother Lisa, picking the tomatoes out of her salad. “Besides, shouldn’t you get going? You have work in the morning.”
“Actually, I have an interview,” said Eleanor.
“Eww, another catering gig?” said her older stepsister, Janet. “Yuck.”
“Yeah, well, my dad isn’t a millionaire like yours, so I actually have to work to pay for my schooling,” said Eleanor, narrowing her eyes.
“Don’t talk to her like that,” said Lisa crossly.
“If you must know, Janet and I were invited to the Asher Ball,” said Laura, the younger stepsister. “Not that you know what that is.”
“You’re right, balls aren’t exactly my thing,” said Eleanor, resisting snorting, not at the idea of balls, but at the idea of Janet and Laura flitting around in poofy dresses.
“Well, the Asher Ball is invitation only, very exclusive,” said Lisa, picking at her salad. “Only the most eligible bachelors and bachelorettes are invited...and a human like you wouldn’t get invited.”
“That’s right,” said Laura. “I heard that only the most beautiful shifter women have been invited to the ball...and what would they want with a human like you?”
“The Ashers are an old money bear shifter family,” said Lisa. “So I expect one of your girls to nab one of them: a crusty uncle, a widowed grandpa, I don’t care, as long as you come back with a man.”
“Eww, Mom,” whined Lisa. “I don’t want some wrinkly bear.”
“Werebear men have money,” said Lisa. “And fuck it, if a bear shifter wants both you and your sister, you hop straight into bed with him and seal the deal. You won’t be complaining when you’re a billionaire’s trophy wife.”
Eleanor served herself more of the dry salad...but Lisa slapped her hand away, hard.
“Don’t you dare eat another bite,” said Lisa. “I’m not paying for you to get fatter.”
The comment stung Eleanor to the core. “Excuse me,” said Eleanor, getting up from the table to hide the tears that were welling in her eyes. Eleanor looked like her mother: petite, blonde, and with ample curves, nothing like Lisa and her children, but Lisa never missed a chance to rub it in Eleanor’s face.
“Don’t you walk away, young lady,” said Lisa. “If I can even call you a lady, in those frumpy clothes. You still have dishes to wash!”
Eleanor wanted to say something back, about how her clothes were frumpy because she wasn’t using a millionaire ex husband’s child support payments to pay for them, but she bit her tongue, knowing that even if she talked to her dad about Lisa’s abuse, again, nothing would change. “Yes, ma’am,” said Eleanor, walking to the kitchen and pulling up the sleeves of her grey sweater.
At least in the kitchen, Eleanor was away from her stepfamily and left alone with her thoughts. It was degrading, having to do all the chores in the house, but Lisa insisted that her children had too delicate of a constitution to do chores, and said a maid wasn’t worth the money. Every day, Eleanor worked, and every day, she came back, saving her money in her bank account and saving money by living with her dad while she raised enough money to attend a community college. Eleanor had the grades, the extracurriculars, and all the rest in high school, but her family hadn’t had the money to send her...while the two bitchettes were attending a local college and were out half the time partying.
The Asher Ball. Eleanor mouthed the words and rolled her eyes: what a crock. It was the event that she was interviewing for the next day: the Asher Ball was looking for servers for the ball, and one of the catering companies she worked for had landed her a spot. She had thought that it’d be too classy to accept the likes of Janet and Laura, but now, she had her work cut out for her, making sure that she stayed out of the twins’ eyes all night while she just kept her head low and did her job. It was going to be another $100 towards college, and the free food didn’t hurt: half her good meals were coming from her catering gigs now, given that Lisa kept making cheap diet foods for the family, food that tasted more like packaging material than nutrition.
The stepfamily brought in their dishes and ignored Eleanor as if she was just an appliance, but that was how things were every night: Eleanor worked, came home, and worked at home. She wasn’t paying rent, but her accommodations were less than ideal: the twins had taken her room when they moved in, because Lisa had whined to Eleanor’s father that the twins needed a big room to make the move easier, so Eleanor had been mature and mov
ed to a small room in the attic without a fuss.
The best part about being ignored was being invisible: Eleanor could just grab her coat and leave, and once she finished the dishes, she did just that, grabbing her coat and heading out into the chilly Seattle air for a walk.
Out in the city streets, Eleanor felt depressed: she walked these streets daily for work and for errands, but after a few blocks, Eleanor was at her favorite place in Seattle: a small park with a pond. She sat down on her favorite bench and watched her nighttime friends break up the dark, placid waters, the Canadian geese.
Eleanor would come down to the pond daily to feed her friends extra food, and tonight, she’d brought them frozen vegetables, as the bread was bad for their digestive systems. “Hey you guys,” she said as she made her way over to the pond. “Hope you’re hungry, this was getting freezer burn.” She tossed a handful of frozen bits of veggies into the water and the geese went nuts, except for a single goose that walked up to her and sat by the bench.
“Hey there, Gary,” said Eleanor to her goose friend. “How’re you doing?” She held out her hand and Gary gently nibbled at the bits of food. Over the last few months, Gary had become Eleanor’s closest friend.
Eleanor sat down on the bench and watched her goose friends: the baby goslings had almost turned into fully adult geese. “It must be amazing to get to watch your babies grow up,” said Eleanor with a sigh. “I watched those goslings grow up and I love’m to death, but here I am, sitting alone, and I’m frikkin’ jealous of some geese.”
Gary honked a knowing honk.
“Yeah, I know: I shouldn’t be so negative,” said Eleanor. “I’ve got to keep a chin up. It’s going to be hard tomorrow. I’ve got work, this Asher Ball thing, and my stepsisters are going to be there. The last time they were somewhere I was working, they harassed me and made a scene and I almost got fired. I don’t want a repeat of that.”
Eleanor threw another handful of veggies out towards the geese. “I just wish I could find true love, Gary. Girls like me don’t get that, though. It’s not like I’m a princess or something. I’m just a tubby hopeless romantic.”
Eleanor saw a flash of green light from across the lake, and then two green pin points shining at her from across the lake.
“What is that, Gary?” asked Eleanor. “Is that a dog?”
Eleanor squinted: the dimly lit park was barely lit by the moonlight, but as the clouds moved away from the moon and let its beams shine down on the park, Eleanor gasped as she realized what she was watching.
Big. Brown. Covered in fur from head to two...with two large paws, there was no mistaking the animal across the lake for anything but a brown bear. Brown bears had been known to wander into Seattle, and Eleanor had no idea what to do except listen to her instincts.
“Holy shizz, it’s a bear,” yelled Eleanor, getting up from the bench and backing away. “Gary, run!”
She pulled off one of her ratty shoes and threw it at the geese in the water. “Fly away, guys!” she ordered, and the geese honked and followed Gary up into the air.
Eleanor looked around for the bear which seemed to be gone...but she felt hot breath on her neck. Eleanor slowly turned around: the bear was right behind her, breathing down her neck.
“Shit,” shouted Eleanor, and she took off running, not looking back to see if the bear was at her tail until she was halfway through the park. The bear was sitting in the park, watching Eleanor but not chasing her. Eleanor kept running.
It wasn’t until Eleanor was two blocks away from the park that she stopped running and started walking, catching her breath. Drat, even my shoe is going solo now, she thought. I’m going to have to buy sneakers now: another frikkin’ expense. She slipped the other shoe off and carried it in her hands as she walked back to the house.
Eleanor dropped off her lonely sneaker in the mudroom, leaving it on the floor without a pair. Eleanor’s stepmother and her daughters were watching TV in the living room. Eleanor headed upstairs quietly and opened the attic door, slipping upstairs before they asked where she’d been. Who was she kidding: they didn’t care.
Eleanor turned on the lights in the attic. Going to her room was the favorite part of her day. She laid out her work outfit for the next day: standard black pants, a white shirt, a belt, worn black socks, and black sneakers that she’d patched up with a Sharpie, shoes she only wore for work. She set her alarm and tucked into bed.
***
The next morning, Eleanor woke up and headed to her first job, scrubbing toilets at the local elementary school. The kids were polite to her and the job, while not glamorous, was regular reliable work, although she was often mistaken for one of the teachers.
When the other employees went home to relax, Eleanor used one of the bathrooms to get changed into her catering work clothes before taking the bus to Asher Manor, a historic building downtown that was Seattle’s equivalent of Buckingham Palace. With sprawling gardens and wings that took up entire city blocks, the place was bustling, full of life as decorators and caterers brought the party to life.
Eleanor made her way to a desk that was marked “EMPLOYEE CHECKIN”. “Eleanor Albertson,” said Eleanor to a thin blonde with glasses and a clipboard.
“Albertson, Albertson...this says you’re to report to the Asher’s private wing,” said the blonde. She pulled out a paper map and marked the location with an X.
“The private wing?” asked Eleanor with a furrowed brow. “I think there must be a mistake, I’m with the catering company.”
“Be Our Guest Catering?” asked the blonde. “Because they’re listed as your employer on the sheet, so your assignment should be accurate. Maybe you’re tending a private bar?”
“Maybe,” said Eleanor, furrowing her brow. “Thanks.” She looked up at Asher Manor and down at her paper and back up again, figuring out what direction she needed to go before walking through the large double doors.
About The Author
I’m Sable Sylvan, and the only thing I love more than reading hot paranormal romances is writing down my fantasies and sharing them with readers like you. My heroes are strong alpha male shifters who can be grizzly and gruff at times...but when it comes to their mates, they turn into absolute teddy bears. The curvy heroines in my stories are strong, sassy women, and that’s why the bear shifter men who love them will do anything for their fated mates.
My books are available exclusively on Amazon, so check out my author page at www.amazon.com/author/SableSylvan to check out my full catalog anywhere, anytime. All my books are available for FREE under the Kindle Unlimited borrowing program (it’s like Netflix, but for books). If you enjoyed this book, please leave a review on its page!
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Goldilocks And The Three Bear Shifters
Little Red Riding Bears
Three Grizzlies Gruff
The Shifter Princes
Shifterella And The Billionaire Bear
Beauty And The Billionaire Bear
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Rapunzel And The Billionaire Bear
Seattle’s Billionaire Bears
Rumpled Bear Skin (coming soon)
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