by Tasha Black
Prince of Bears
Autumn Court #2 (Rosethorn Valley Fae Romance)
Tasha Black
13th Story Press
Copyright © 2020 by 13th Story Press
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
13th Story Press
PO Box 506
Swarthmore, PA 19081
[email protected]
Contents
Tasha Black Starter Library
About Prince of Bears
Prince of Bears
1. Willow
2. Heath
3. Willow
4. Heath
5. Willow
6. Heath
7. Willow
8. Heath
9. Willow
10. Heath
11. Willow
12. Heath
13. Willow
14. Heath
15. Willow
16. Heath
17. Willow
18. Willow
19. Willow
20. Willow
21. Heath
22. Willow
23. Willow
24. Heath
25. Willow
26. Heath
Prince of Wolves (Sample)
1. Asha
2. Varik
3. Ashe
Tasha Black Starter Library
About the Author
One Percent Club
Tasha Black Starter Library
Packed with steamy shifters, mischievous magic, billionaire superheroes, and plenty of HEAT, the Tasha Black Starter Library is the perfect way to dive into Tasha's unique brand of Romance with Bite!
Get your FREE books now at tashablack.com!
About Prince of Bears
A fae prince on a mission to save his kingdom, a case of mistaken identity, and a secret pregnancy that will change everything…
Willow loves her job waiting tables at the local diner and her sweet apartment over the neighborhood grocery store in Rosethorn Valley. So what if she seems to have some random supernatural abilities? She is a perfectly normal woman with a perfectly normal life - until a giant bear appears in the parking lot after work one night, and whisks her off to a fantasy world she never knew existed.
Prince Heath of the Autumn Court must find the missing princess and marry her if he wants to save his kingdom and hers from war. He would do anything to save his people, even traveling to the mortal realm. But he doesn’t expect to fall hard for the beautiful woman who doesn’t seem to remember who she is. And by the time he realizes he has the wrong princess, she has already stolen his heart.
When a magical snowstorm and enemies from far away threaten their very survival, Willow will have to accept her true nature to harness her power and save them. But can she control the wild feelings she has for the prince who would put his kingdom before anything else?
If you like strong women, hunky fae men, wild adventures, steamy sensual scenes, and happily-ever-afters, then you’ll love the world of Rosethorn Valley Fae!
Autumn Court Trilogy:
Prince of Cats
Prince of Bears
Prince of Wolves
Prince of Bears
1
Willow
Willow gazed out over her section of the Barry White Diner with satisfaction.
It had been a busy night, but all her tables were cleared and reset, ready for the overnight shift to take over.
Willow had a nice little bundle of tips in her pocket, and she was going to be home in time to watch at least half a movie before falling asleep.
She had a couple of murder mysteries and a dance documentary cued up. It was only a matter of choosing one, and then heating up a plate of heavenly leftovers from her marathon cooking session yesterday.
These were simple pleasures, but they were all hers.
Willow often wished for adventure, but adventures were hard to come by in small towns like Tarker’s Hollow and Rosethorn Valley.
She stuck her head into the kitchen to let everyone know she was headed out.
“See you tomorrow guys,” she called to the crew over the sizzle of frying eggs and the hum of the dishwasher.
“You need a ride?” Ramón yelled back. “I’m off in five minutes.”
“Nope,” she replied. “I got my car back from the shop this morning.”
It was nice of him to ask. Her car was old enough to keep her on her toes with needed repairs. Ramón sometimes helped out with a ride after his shift.
“Nice,” he said. “So you’re on tomorrow?”
“Lunch shift,” she told him, rolling her eyes.
“Well, try to get in an early section,” he advised. “It’s a full moon. Even lunchtime will be crazy.”
She nodded.
Say what you would about sleepy little Tarker’s Hollow, but the whole town seemed to come to life during the full moon. Even the oldest residents suddenly wanted steak and eggs in the middle of the night when the moon was waxing. Plus, the Barry White Diner was the only twenty-four-hour restaurant in the area.
She headed out to her car, glad she wasn’t scheduled for the late shift tomorrow.
The night air was cold and crisp. Willow sucked in a deep breath to get the greasy humidity of the diner out of her lungs.
Employees had to park at the back of the lot to leave the best spots for customers. So she was feeling almost fully refreshed by the time she got to her little black compact in the very last spot before the parking lot ended abruptly against a wooded hillside.
She reached for her purse to get her keys, and realized she had left it inside. Again.
Sighing, she turned to head back to the diner. She’d been on her feet all day. Why did another five minutes seem so unbearable?
Sudden movement in her periphery made her turn away from the diner once more. A crash in the underbrush followed.
Something was tumbling down the hillside toward the parking lot and onto the asphalt. No. Not something. Someone.
Instinct made Willow rush to help as a woman landed hard on her hands and knees. A curtain of dark hair covered her face from view. She wore some sort of elaborate gown, as if she had just run away from the Renaissance Faire or a very fancy wedding.
Something about her was familiar.
“Are you okay?” Willow asked, bending to help her.
The woman’s face snapped up at the sound of her voice.
Willow stepped back instinctively, feeling dizzy.
The face that gazed back at her was her own.
It wasn’t a passing similarity, or a family resemblance.
This woman was her exact double.
Before Willow’s eyes, her doppelgänger scrambled to her feet.
“He’s right behind me,” the woman hissed, eyes wide. “Run.”
But Willow was frozen.
She watched her other self gather the gown gracefully in her hands and sprint for the light of the diner that now seemed impossibly far away.
Impossible. This is impossible…
She glanced back to the woods where the woman had come from, to see a man step out of the shadows
He was huge, with wide shoulders, and he wore some sort of costume as well - like a gladiator from that movie with Russell Crowe.
In the cool light of the street lamps, Willow could see the set of his jaw, the fury in his eyes.
Some sort of puppy stood at his feet, hackles raised. It loo
ked more like a wolf cub than any dog she’d ever seen.
The man scanned the parking lot until his gaze fell on her. His eyes narrowed as he moved in her direction.
Whatever debt the other woman had been running from, Willow was clearly going to be the one stuck paying it.
2
Heath
Heath curled his fingers around the tiny hourglass that hung around his neck, took a deep breath, and stepped through the veil.
There was a faint rush, like wind in his ears, and the world went blurry, then cleared again.
He was still on a wooded mountaintop, but he knew at once that he was no longer in Faerie. The air here was stale and the darkness incomplete. The light of the nearby city bled all the way to the sky.
Heath had come to the mortal realm with a trifold goal. He closed his eyes and tried to focus.
I will find Princess Ashe.
I will bring her home.
I will convince her to be my wife.
The first two seemed simple enough, but he had no idea how he was going to accomplish that last part. Heath was not in love with Ashe, nor she with him. He had met her exactly twice.
Both times she struck him as overly modest and embarrassed, though kind. She did not comport herself like a princess of the Winter Court at all.
And though it was supposed to be a secret, everyone knew Ashe had no magic to speak of. She was an anomaly, a dud, even in her own eyes, apparently.
He recalled the wording of the fae prophecy that had led him here.
Animosity will grow between Autumn and Winter.
A daughter of Winter will bring peace to both kingdoms.
Heath, along with everyone else, expected that a daughter of Winter referred to Ashe’s sister, Wynter.
Wynter was as confident and elegant as Ashe was timid and plain. She had been engaged to Heath’s older brother, Killian. Everyone hoped that this betrothal between an Autumn prince and a daughter of the Winter Court would seal the peace between the two kingdoms.
Everyone except Wynter, that was.
She had secretly plotted against the Autumn Court in an attempt to bring about the very war that the rest of them were working so hard to prevent.
And she’d ended up getting herself killed in the process.
So the only daughter of Winter left to bring peace to both kingdoms was the unlikely Princess Ashe.
And now that his older brother, Killian, was marrying a mortal, the only prince of Autumn left to marry Ashe was Heath himself.
Whether she wanted to marry him or not, he was certain she was the kind of princess who would fulfill her duty. At least he had been certain, before she fled to the mortal realm.
Perhaps in time they would grow fond of one another. Heath had always been told that he was sinfully handsome.
And Ashe was pretty enough when she wasn’t busy worrying about what everyone else thought about her. And more importantly, she seemed like a good-hearted girl.
His plan was perfect.
All he had to do was find her.
Poor Ashe had slipped away in the chaos before his brother’s wedding. Heath figured she was worried that everyone would suspect her of being involved in her sister’s plot.
He didn’t blame her. But anyone who had met her two times would know this was impossible.
He scanned the hillside for signs of her passing, but saw nothing that would give him a clue as to her whereabouts.
Though the woodland was sparse compared to the ancient, lush forests of Faerie, it was still thick enough to hide the footsteps of a single princess moving with stealth.
But time was on his side. Ashe would have beaten him here by only an hour or so. She could not have gotten far.
His bear side tugged at his consciousness, asking for control.
There was no reason to deny him.
Heath closed his eyes and shifted into his other form.
Instantly, scents and sounds from miles around slammed into his awareness.
He shook himself, his thick pelt making a satisfying sound that partially muted the others.
He went up on his hind legs and tasted the air, ignoring the thousand mysterious smells that revealed themselves, searching only for the clear, bright scent that Ashe would have trailed along with her from Faerie.
But instead of one trail from his world, he found two.
The first was the pale pink of a frightened runaway.
The other was a blue so bright it seemed to throb.
A bounty hunter…
So Heath wasn’t the only one chasing the princess. That complicated matters.
He lowered himself to all four paws and lumbered through the trees as swiftly as he could.
Bare branches reached out to impede him, but his thick fur protected him. He pushed through, his slender snout guiding his big body.
In spite of the circumstances, it was hard not to enjoy himself.
Heath didn’t spend as much time in his other form now that he was an adult with responsibilities.
The bear missed running free.
Hurry, he urged it from deep inside. Someone else is after her too. We have to find her, and we have to find her first.
Beyond that, there was only so much time in the hourglass. When the sand ran out, Heath would be sucked back to Faerie, whether he had accomplished his goal or not.
The hillside dropped off quickly and the girl’s scent grew stronger, as did the trail of her pursuer.
Heath thundered down the precipitous slope until the valley began to reveal itself to him.
He paused to survey the scene below.
Artificial lights illuminated the smooth surface of a lot filled with the human vehicles.
Much to his good fortune, he spotted Princess Ashe right away, and his breath caught in his throat. He slipped back into his human form to explore the unexpected surge of feelings.
The princess walked toward a carriage on the edge of the woods, heading away from a brightly-lit restaurant on the other side of the big lot.
For a moment, he could only watch as he forgot everything - his mission, the other hunter, even his own name - all he could think about was the unmatched beauty of the woman below.
His chest ached, but more with sweetness than with pain.
It was strange. Ashe had always been pretty. But she had never had this effect on him. No one had. It was like seeing the sunrise for the first time after a life spent in a dark cave.
She stopped and turned back toward the restaurant, sighing, as if she had forgotten something.
But movement in the underbrush on the edge of the woods caught her attention and she turned back to help a figure that stumbled out of the woods and landed on the hard surface of the lot.
Ice went through Heath’s veins as he thought about the bounty hunter. It was a clever trick to pretend to be in distress in order to catch one’s quarry.
But before he could take any action, he saw it was a woman in a gown.
She whispered something to Ashe and then ran for the building Ashe had just come from, skirts hitched up in her hands. Heath wished he’d stayed in his bear form so he would have been able to make out the exchange.
Ashe stood motionless below, looking up into the woods in his direction. Had she sensed him somehow?
More movement near her told him she hadn’t been looking at him at all. She’d spotted the bounty hunter.
Instinct took over, and he slipped back into his bear form and charged down the hillside, paws gripping roots and vines, anything that could launch him closer to his goal.
The desire to protect the princess was overwhelming, a deep rooted need that reached far beyond the bounds of obligation and into an abyss of something that felt strange to him.
When he reached the bottom of the hill, he spotted the bounty hunter.
He was fae, tall and broad shouldered with leather armor.
And he didn’t see Heath coming until it was too late.
The bear crashed into t
he big man and sent him sprawling across the paved surface. To his credit, he rolled with the impact, and absorbed most of what could have been a very damaging blow.
The hunter scrambled back to his feet and glared at the huge bear that now stood between him and his quarry. He looked for moment like he was going to challenge Heath for the princess, but then he glanced from the restaurant to Ashe and back again, and apparently thought better of it.
The man let out a quick whistle and bolted back into the woods, followed by a small wolf cub that Heath hadn’t noticed in his haste to protect the princess.
Heath looked back at the woman he’d come to retrieve.
For an instant they gazed at each other, and he had to fight the urge to shift back into the form of a man and sweep her into an embrace.
She did not cower from him, though his bear form was impressive.
Again, he was struck with the maddening feeling that something about her was very different. She was wearing human clothing. Maybe she had been here longer than he suspected.
A commotion from the restaurant drew his attention.
People inside had spotted the bear.
Damn it.
He could not change forms in front of mortal witnesses.
He gazed into the girl’s eyes, willing her to follow him, though he had no reason to believe she would.
