The BEARly Tamed Grizzly (Bear Clan 3)

Never would I have thought I’d have three medical vans under my belt, let alone within an eighteen-month time-period.

But it helped to have a supportive partner, and that was what Oli was, through and through. He backed up every decision I made.

So, I’d made the decision to leave California, to have a trusted member of the team manage and handle the Californian mobile medic station and set up one in Colorado.

Where I now lived. Although there weren’t a lot of needy people in the town where Oli and I lived, I was able to travel to the surrounding cities, bigger areas where poverty and need were more prevalent. And it made me feel good to help, that I was bettering the world one small piece at a time.

Seattle had been my next stop. It had taken a little bit more time and planning, finding someone I trusted who wanted to manage that area. But now that it was all said and done, I felt pride that we were making a difference in the world, albeit a small one at first.

And as the years went by, I knew I’d set up more vans, help more people. I realized that was my mission in life. That, and being the best mate I could to Oli.

I watched as he stepped out of the tree line, a few rabbits in his grasp. Dinner.

I’d never been much of a meat eater but being mated to a bear shifter had certainly changed that.

And as I watched him come closer, saw the sweat glistening off his temples, knew he’d tracked and hunted our food tonight, all I felt was this intense wave of desire.

He was a man, a real one, who worked with his hands, who took care of his family ... who made sure I was happy and provided for.

If I were being honest, I knew Oli didn’t want me to work at all. He’d probably want me at home barefoot and pregnant. And even if the thought of carrying Oli’s baby made me happy, excited even ... even if I knew I was ready, I also liked my independence and the good that I was helping create in the world.

But I found myself placing my hand over my flat belly, picturing Oli’s baby in there, me growing bigger, my stomach getting rounder. I smiled again, looking down, envisioning it.

The sound of Oli approaching had me lifting my head and looking at him, walking toward me, his focus trained right on me. I heard the sound he made even from the distance, the same sound he made whenever he was in one of his moods. And by moods I meant aroused, ready to take me ... to make me orgasm more times than I could count.

I stood and walked up to him, scrunching my nose as he set the rabbits aside. Although I knew this was part of life, how we survived, I’d much rather just go to the store and get a package of ground hamburger meat.

Not Oli, though.

Not bear shifters living in the middle of the woods.

This was natural to them. This was life.

He pulled me in for a hug and, like he did every single time he held me, he buried his nose at the base of my neck. He ran his tongue over the mating mark, causing that now healed wound to tingle in awareness.

As the seconds moved by, I felt this change in Oli, f

elt the tightening of his body against mine, the way his hands curled possessively around me. I pulled back and felt my brows knit in curiosity, looking into his face, one that wasn’t classically handsome, but was brutal, with sharp edges and piercing blue eyes.

He inhaled again, his nostrils flaring, a low sound leaving him, one I couldn’t ever remember hearing before. It was sharp and jagged. It was the most animalistic one that had ever come from him.

And then he closed his eyes and his mouth parted slightly, the breath leaving him slowly.

“Oli?”

He opened his eyes and I saw he was no longer human, the once blue irises now glowing bright yellow, like amber lit from behind.

“Oli?” I said again.

“You’re primed.”

My mouth dried, my body reacting.

“Fertile.”

God, the way he said that, with so much need, had every part of me melting into a puddle. My nipples hardened, my pussy becoming wet.

“You haven’t been able to tell before?” My voice was a mere whisper as I looked at his mouth, wanting to kiss him … wanting him to kiss me.