Taming the Beast

Matilda jerked her hand away and glared at him.

“Don’t make a scene, Tim. You need to leave.”

“I’m not leaving without you.”

“Is there a problem here?” came a gruff voice from behind Tim.

Matilda’s ex-boyfriend turned around to see chef Shane Keenan standing behind him. The grizzly bear shifter’s eyes were bright with the strength of his bear. The arms of his chef coat were folded back to reveal his tattooed arms. The Rescue Bears called Shane ‘Wild Bear’ for a reason. Even though Matilda knew Shane was trying to protect her, the intensity of Shane’s glare still sent a shiver down her spine. Tim took a step to the side as Shane growled and stared into his eyes.

“No problem at all. I was just leaving,” Tim said.

“Are you all right?” Lily asked, walking up beside her husband.

“I’m so sorry that happened. I’m so embarrassed right now.”

“There’s no reason to be embarrassed. We are just worried about you,” Lily said.

Shane gripped her shoulder for a split second, while looking her in the eye, and then turned back to the kitchen.

“Thank you so much for everything, Lily. I should probably get going.”

“Why don’t you sit back down and calm your nerves for a moment. We want to make sure he drives away.”

Matilda sat back in the booth and took a long sip of milkshake through her straw. The thick, sweet shake slid down her throat and soothed the raw feeling she’d had since choking.

She groaned and picked up her phone again, navigating over to her social media page. Matilda scrolled through updates from all of her friends in college. She read posts about their excitement over the new term. She saw their updated profile pictures of New Year’s Eve kisses at midnight with creative Instagram filters. Matilda slapped her palm to her forehead right before she noticed an advertisement for the dating website that Lily was always talking about.

‘Find your match on Mate.com.’

Matilda groaned and clicked on the advertisement, a mixture of anger and terror driving her on. If she couldn’t go to school and she was going to get stalked by her psycho ex-boyfriend, then maybe she could at least get the attention of some male shifter from this silly dating website.

It was an impulsive move, but as she sat in the diner, waiting for Tim to leave the parking lot, it was the only thing she could think of to do. She filled out the silly questionnaire and uploaded her profile information. When she was done, she pressed enter and waited for her matches to load.

Out her window, she could see Tim finally drive away, heading east on the highway out of town. With a sigh of relief, she watched her matches load on the screen of her smartphone. She wasn’t expecting anything from it. It was just a stupid way to pass the time. But to her surprise, when the matches were finished loading, she had a hundred percent match. The instructions at the beginning had informed her that a one hundred percent match meant the site had found her a fated mate.

Unlike humans, shifters had a fated mate: that one special person who was perfect for them. Matilda knew enough about shifters and their mates to know that the fated mate thing worked both ways. Even human mates felt undeniably attracted to their shifter. Unfortunately, her mate didn’t even have a profile picture, and his profile name was “Bad Bear”. Neither of those facts were particularly encouraging.

Matilda rolled her eyes and clicked off her phone. Now that Tim was gone, she could safely leave the diner and get to her job. She was supposed to be there in less than ten minutes, and the haunted mansion was at least fifteen minutes away. She was going to be late on her very first day. This job was over before it had even started.

Matilda went out to the parking lot and climbed in her car. As the engine warmed up, she groaned and rested her forehead against the wheel. This was not the way that she had expected her life to turn out. Nevertheless, it was what she had to work with. Matilda put the car in reverse, turned out of the parking lot, and drove out onto the highway, headed to the haunted mansion.

Chapter 4

James gazed out the window at the snow-covered statues and frowned. He took another sip of coffee and set it back on the counter. The cleaning agency had finally found him a new housekeeper. She would be arriving at any moment. He checked his cellphone to see that she was already late. Then he noticed that there was a text from Mate.com. He clicked on the message and opened it up.

“Congratulations. Your fated mate has been found.”

James stared at the text for a long time, not sure what to think about it. Signing up for the dating website had been a momentary case of madness. But apparently, they had found his one true love.

He grimaced and clicked on the link, opening up the girl’s profile. Immediately, he was stunned by her beauty. Long black hair flowed around her round white shoulders like a dark river. Pouty red lips begged to be kissed. Curvy hips called out to his hands to grip and pull against him. His inner bear snarled, knowing he was looking at his one and only.

James dropped his phone and looked away, his han

ds curling into claws. The beast inside roared mercilessly in his brain. He could feel his fangs descend in his mouth. The taste of blood slid over his tongue from where the tip of his sharp teeth sliced his thin human flesh. He could not have that girl. There was no way in hell.

First of all, she was clearly a child. Secondly… he could never bring someone so innocent and beautiful into the darkness of his insanity. He turned back to the phone, reaching out to where it had landed on the ground. He couldn’t bring himself to look at it again. He could never have her. Never. The bear growling inside his mind drove him away from the phone. He’d have to remove his profile later. He couldn’t chance seeing her face again just now.

He had to get a grip. The cleaning lady would be here any minute. As he was trudging away from the phone on the floor in his kitchen, he heard the doorbell chime throughout the mansion. His bear snarled and James took a gasping breath. He was shirtless and sweaty, his lips were stained with blood from his own fangs. He grabbed an old sweater off a chair and threw it over his bare chest on the way through the sitting room and into the main hall of the mansion. He crossed the cold marble floor in his bare feet and gripped the doorknob. With a deep breath, the swung the door open.