Bearly a Chance: A Second Chances Romance Read Online Free PDF Page A

another. Quite a few of those supernatural folks are like you, but there’s plenty who stand with a foot in two worlds.”
    Damn, I missed a hell of a lot, maybe I am a brick when it comes to observing folks.
    Still, that sounded like a hard road to walk. Maybe it was for the best that her family hadn’t told her up front that they were shifters. But Aria still felt a small sting of betrayal, like she was untrustworthy. She couldn’t figure out why they didn’t trust her.
    Unless there was more to this secret than met the eye.

 
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER FOUR
     
     
    Benjamin huddled beneath the boughs of the weeping willow that stood sentinel in the northernmost corner of Victoria Fox’s garden. His bear had scented something deliciously familiar when he’d driven past on his way to the post office. And the presence of a strange car spiked his curiosity and his bears.
    Eventually the beast’s demands to investigate had become overwhelming. So he’d clambered over the privacy fence and done a little exploring. He’d managed to sneak up to the back wall of the house. His bear was on high alert, scenting the wind and listening for anything out of place. Neither of them much liked the feeling of being penned in, even though the pen in this case was a glorious summer garden in full bloom. The feel of walls closing in made him and his beast tense, and brought back flashes of the first few months after he’d changed. Ben growled low in his throat and tossed his head side to side, trying to literally dislodge the past that haunted their shared memories.
    A terrified wail answered his growl, and sent a spike of adrenaline surging through him. He felt his bear rising inside his skin.
    Mine.
    His bear laid claim to the crying child with a certainty his human half didn’t buy. Bear had been on the prowl for a mate and a family lately, and this just felt like more of the same. Down , Ben commanded, then tilted his head back and stood on tip toes, trying to stretch his solid six foot frame just enough to catch the child’s scent from the upstairs window. Just as his nose started to tickle, he heard steps pounding up the stairs in answer to the wail.
    Fuck, bear. Why’d you go and do that shit ? Ben sprinted back to the willow as fast as he could, knowing damn well there was no way he’d make it over the fence before Victoria and her mystery guest reached the room. He kept to the grass and dove under the concealing boughs when tense whispers drifted out the open window. The dark, bare earth cushioned his landing. His gaze locked on the house, hoping to spot Victoria’s guest. He didn’t dare hope it was Aria. To his knowledge, she hadn’t come back to Espen since the night he’d left her stranded at the restaurant in Aurora. The night his bear had taken over his life with a will of steel and claw.
    Ben let his bear have a little bit of rope, just enough to augment his hearing and smell. If there was anything to learn from this situation his beast had stubbornly insisted on putting them in, then they were damn-sure going to learn it. Tori wasn’t a woman anyone wanted to anger. He felt his bear’s dismissal of that very human thought. Bear had no fear of humans, or of foxes. But Ben had a very real, very healthy fear of powerful, tricky women. Especially powerful tricky women with connections.
    Ben felt his nose prickle. He suppressed a sneeze as he peered carefully through the fronds screening him from discovery. Not that Victoria Fox would hurt him physically. But she had pull in this town, and he’d only managed to avoid the clan’s demands by the skin of his teeth as it stood. If she got involved, he’d be roped and tied despite his bear’s confident dismissal of foxes and humans and everything in this world not bear.
    Bear looked through his eyes with him, both wondering what they’d find. Ben struggled to suppress a roar when he saw Aria peer out the window.
    Mine. Mate.
    It was only an iron will and a