Aimée and the Bear: A BBW Bear-Shifter Romance (Fairy Tales with a Shift) Read Online Free PDF

deserve to be celebrated every day.”
    I must admit his words made me blush and look down at my plate. “Thank you.” It struck me then what an unlucky woman I actually was. Gabriel was handsome and absolutely amazing, but the only place where I could be with him was in my dreams. The beast was kind, funny, and intelligent but he was… well, he wasn’t human. I was caught between the two. If I wanted to save the one I loved as a man, Gabriel, then I had to marry the one I was beginning to love and appreciate as a friend, the beast. Honestly, what were the chances?
    “How would you like to eat your dessert in the garden?”
    I raised my eyebrows in confusion. The garden was a jungle. Corinne had explained the reason for which the master had chosen to leave it like that was to make people believe the mansion was abandoned and haunted. In fact, the servants themselves had spread the word in town, thus making sure no one even considered getting too close to their hidden place.
    “In the garden?”
    “Yes. I asked the old gardener to clear a spot for us. Come, we’ll watch the stars together.”
    I clapped my hands and jumped to my feet. I loved the garden, but it was so messy and the weeds were suffocating the roses… the sight of it had come to depress me. The bear’s suggestion sounded really nice. An evening spent watching the stars, eating cake, drinking red wine, and talking about God knew what… It sounded great!
    “Let’s go, then!”
    I went past him and my skirt brushed against his front paws. He followed me, and we went out on the back porch, then in the garden, where his servants had prepared a comfortable armchair and a small table Corinne was currently filling with cake and cookies. I sat down, and the beast sat beside my armchair on his hind legs. We both looked at the starry sky, and I took a deep breath of fresh air. The intoxicating perfume of the red roses and the green scent of pine trees made one wicked combination. My heart and stomach were literally fluttering with excitement. Without thinking, I lifted my right arm to reach for the bear. I felt the muscles in his shoulder tense under my fingers, but I still sunk my hand in his rich fur. Little by little, he relaxed. I smiled and left my hand there.
    “Do you know the story of Ursa Major and Ursa Minor?” he asked me.
    My eyes searched for the two constellations. Their shapes were so unique and their stars shined so brightly that they were impossible to miss.
    “No. I know that ursa means she-bear, but I have no idea why.”
    I felt him lean into my touch. Not much, just a bit. I flexed my fingers and started massaging his shoulder lightly, lazily, as if I was unaware of what my hand was doing.
    “Yes, it means she-bear in Latin. The story comes from the Roman mythology. You know that Jupiter had a habit of being really unfaithful to his wife, Juno. As the king of gods, he could have any woman he wanted, human or goddess. It so happened that one day he fell in lust with the beautiful nymph Callisto. They had a son together, but Juno found out about their affair and took revenge on Callisto. She turned the nymph into a she-bear.”
    “I can empathize with her to a certain point,” I said.
    “Juno was always jealous and creative when it came to coming up with punishments for the women her husband slept with.”
    “How did Callisto end up a constellation?”
    “Well, her son grew up. He was out hunting and he spotted this huge she-bear. He tried to shoot her down but his father, Jupiter, stopped him. He decided to turn him into a bear as well, then take both of them and put them on the sky so mother and son could finally be together again. This way, the jealous Juno had no way of hurting them ever again. Callisto became Ursa Major, and her son became Ursa Minor.”
    “That’s a sad story…”
    “I don’t know. Other people would think otherwise. After all, what’s better than living an eternity watching over people going about their