A Bride For The Bear (Bear Brides #1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

There were many tall, muscular males striding and strolling around,
and only a handful of women around. The women, she noted, weren't at
all like the vast majority of girls in the city. They weren't
stick-thin and wearing a ton of make-up on their stressed, pinched
faces. Instead, they were tall, curvy, well-proportioned and their
faces glowed with health and contentment.
    As she passed a group of men
smoking in front of a shop window, Abby noticed the men turning
towards her and sniffing the air. Their action unnerved her and she
quickened her pace. With a start, she realized that Moonstone Creek
was a shifter town so most, if not all, of these people, were
shifters. Since bear shifters dominated the population, she gathered
that most of those beautiful, curvy women she saw were probably
she-bears.
    Abby turned the corner and
continued walking, taking in the sights, sounds and smells of this
quaint little town. She could see herself living and working here.
For once, her impulse and instinct paid off. Hopping on the bus and
coming out to Moonstone Creek might be the best decision she'd made
in a long time. She was done with the city, and the city was done
with her. Perhaps she could move to Moonstone Creek and turn her
life around. Get a job, get a house, get a life.
    The street had become
narrower and less crowded. There weren't as many shops and offices
in this part of the town center. Abby frowned and started to turn
back.
    Three tall men blocked her
way, and Abby had to stifle her scream. “Hello beautiful,”
one of them drawled. “What's a girl like you doing in a place
like this?”
    Abby glanced over her
shoulder, not sure if he was talking to her. There wasn't anyone
else about, and the few people along the street seemed to avert their
eyes in a hurry when they met her panicked gaze.
    Abby backed away slowly as
the three towering men advanced towards her. Two of them circled
behind her to block her escape, while their leader, the one who had
spoken to her, leaned forward and took a deep whiff of her.
    “Mmm, a human woman.
We don't see many of these around.” He smiled, but there was
nothing friendly in his smile.
    “Are you going to mark
her, Graig? These things are rare, so the other bears are going to
want a piece of her,” one of the men behind her spoke up. Abby
spun round and saw an eager, sadistic smile on the man's face.
    “Mark her?”
Graig peered at her, looking her up and down as if she were a piece
of prime meat. “There's no need to mark her. No one would
dare touch something I want. I'm the Beta of the Blood Shadow
bears.” Abby shrank back at the sound of his cruel, mocking
laugh.
    “Blood Shadows?”
she squeaked in spite of herself.
    Graig looked down his long
nose at her. “The Blood Shadow clan is the largest clan of
werebears in Moonstone Creek. I'm the Beta, the second most powerful
bear in the clan.” His smirk told her that she was meant to be
impressed or intimidated by his revelation, but all she felt was
revulsion.
    “What do you want?”
Abby steeled her voice and looked him straight in the eye.
    The men laughed in unison.
“You know what I want,” Graig taunted. “And you'll
want to give it to me. Don't be coy now. Doing a bear is something
to brag about. Come on, just ten minutes and you'll be a star.”
    Abby would have gagged if she
wasn't so scared. “I'm not that kind of girl,” she said,
her eyes darting frantically about. Why wasn't there anyone around?
Everyone seemed to have disappeared the moment these men started
harassing her. Were they afraid of these Blood Shadow bears? Just
how dangerous and brutal were they?
    Very . She heard the whisper in her
mind. Every instinct screamed at her to run, but she knew that
running would fuel the blood lust of these predators.
    “Please let me go,”
she said, her voice trembling. “I...won't bother you.”
    “Oh, you're not a
bother, sweetheart. Not a bother at all,” Graig's smile
widened. “In fact, you are