Captive 0f The Bear Clan (Bonfire Falls Paranormal Romance Book 1) Read online

  Captive of the Bear Clan

  Liv Brywood

  Aria Hunt

  Contents

  Description

  Excerpt

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  About the Author

  Captive of the Bear Clan

  Copyright© 2019 Liv Brywood

  All rights reserved

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Created with Vellum

  Description

  A love more powerful than dark magic…

  On her twenty-first birthday, Minerva’s magic spirals out of control. Unable to hide the extent of her power, dangerous enemies attempt to steal her soul. She tries to fight them, but she can’t do it alone. Three bear shifters vow to defend her, but in exchange for their protection, they want something she’s not ready to give—her love.

  Kaval, Draven, and Stone will do whatever it takes to claim the only woman they could ever love. Fighting is in their blood, but they’ve never battled dark magic. It’s unlike anything they’ve ever faced, but they’re determined to protect Minerva, even if it means making the ultimate sacrifice.

  Captive of the Bear Clan is a stand-alone book with a HEA and no cheating. It’s the first book in the Bonfire Falls Reverse Harem Paranormal Romance series.

  Excerpt

  As Draven sprouts fur and his features begin to distort and morph in that disorienting way, I think about what an amazing creature he is. He’s all man and all bear at the same time. It’s sexy.

  My mind drifts to the kiss I shared with Kaval this morning, and I can’t help but wonder what it would be like to kiss Draven. They’re both such fascinating guys. I get the feeling that I may be getting myself into a whole different kind of trouble hiding out in the woods with these sexy shifters.

  An emotional storm is brewing out here.

  Even though I haven’t really had much time with Stone, there’s definitely some kind of connection there. I suspect we may share a mutual attraction too.

  Finally, I pull my attention back to the task at hand and utter my incantation. The aura-bubble coalesces around me. I focus on keeping my breathing even as I pour energy into it, carefully and steadily, like blowing a huge gum-bubble. Thirty seconds later, it’s fully formed and reinforced. Draven roars a warning and begins his charge.

  He’s coming on fast, and even though I’m confident my shield will hold, I can’t stop the nervous flutter in my belly. My heart starts pounding. Adrenaline courses through my blood. It’s a normal reaction when a six hundred-pound bear is charging at you full speed. Regardless of your magical abilities, that’s some scary shit. Primal instincts run deep.

  When he’s about ten feet from me, he launches himself through the air, claws ready to tear through the barrier. I reflexively raise my hands in front of my face and squint my eyes shut in anticipation of the impact, but there is only silence. I open my eyes apprehensively and see Draven two feet in front of me, suspended in mid-air with a dumb, surprised look that I’ve never seen on a bear’s face before.

  “Aha. Success.” I jump into the air in triumph.

  I’m so excited that I lose my concentration. My energy falters, and suddenly Draven is falling toward me. I turn to run, but I’m too slow, and his massive arm knocks me to the ground.

  Luckily, my reflexes are fast enough to soften my fall with my hands, so I don’t end up with a mouthful of earth.

  I push myself up on an elbow and look behind me. Draven’s enormous paw is covering most of my ass, and my skirt is slightly ripped where his sharp claw tore through it. His claws and fur disappear as his paw shrinks back down to a human hand, so it covers only one cheek now. Draven gapes up at me naked and dumbfounded, and then notices the placement of his hand and jerks it back. His cheeks flame. As he stands, he turns his head away to avoid my eyes.

  1

  Minerva

  The night breeze stirs my hair into a wavy tussle as I speed along the moonlit road which curves around the mountainside like a lover. Looming huge on the horizon, the moon—a blue moon—dominates the sky, robbing the stars of their light.

  It’s all a matter of perspective, of course. The moon only seems brighter. We’d learned in school that the stars are really suns, burning a million times brighter than the moon on its best night. But then again, I’d also learned that perspective and reality can sometimes intertwine—if one is a witch.

  There are many witches in my hometown of Bonfire Falls. I am but one among the many, like the stars above. And to be honest, I’m not one of the brighter ones. To some witches, magic comes easily. Me, not so much.

  But that’s fine with me. I don’t need to be like Azealia, a powerful witch capable of bending time and space to her will, to be happy. Tonight, all I need to be happy is a song I can dance to, some cute guys, and lots and lots of booze.

  It’s my twenty-first birthday, and tonight is my party.

  The blue moon is most auspicious in many ways. I’m trying not to think too much about magic tonight, though. Rather, I’m hoping that some socializing will help me forget how lonely I am.

  In a small town like ours, it can be hard to find someone to date and even harder to find someone you can trust. People are always snooping into your business, and sooner or later the truth comes out. Let’s just say I don’t have a good track record of picking trustworthy people.

  I round the bend, and the moon disappears behind an outcropping of boulders. Shafts of silvery light dance across uneven terrain until they’re blocked by the mountain. Darkness envelops me. I really don’t care much for this particular stretch of the road which includes a cluster of old knobby pines jokingly called the Twilight Zone. Plenty of stories in high school were traded about how someone’s cousin or neighbor had gone missing because their car got a flat right in the heavy copse of pines. Pure nonsense, but there is a palpable sense of evil about the place. Some of the older witches claim it was the place where a terribly sinister witch met her end, but I don’t believe them.

  Still, I roll up my window as I pass through the darkness. The problem with being a witch is your sixth sense is more enhanced than the average human’s. You can never be sure if it’s just your imagination or something really is out to get you.

  Thankfully, I drive out of the copse and back into the moon’s wonderful grace. I pull off the main road and take the serpentine rock-strewn trail that meanders up the rest of the way to the coven’s meeting spot. Even though I don’t have a lot of friends, the entire coven is going to show up to my party because it’s tradition.
I’ve certainly showed up for a lot of parties dedicated to people I didn’t like.

  There won’t be many people I’m really close to at the party except for my best friend Arianna, and—if he shows up—my friend Kaval.

  Arianna is a witch like me, and we’ve been friends since grade school. She and I are the same age, but where I’m cautious and try to keep my emotions bottled up, she tends to just explode all over a situation. While she’s not gifted enough to hold any real power in our world, she can enthrall a room with her stories. However, she tends to be aloof, and she’s hard to get to know, so I’m her only real friend.

  Kaval… Kaval is another matter. He’s a Bear Clan shifter, and that’s where the complications start. While the war between the witches and the shifter clans ended long ago, and a truce was established here in Bonfire Falls, there’s still a lot of lingering tension and prejudice between the groups. In an effort to establish more common ground, our schools were integrated, which is where I met Kaval—which is quite fortunate, because he skipped class more often than he attended.

  I smile when I think of him, the perpetual rebel without a cause. If he wasn’t sneaking away from school to smoke pot, he was dropping Mexican firecrackers down the toilets. The only class he went to regularly was Shop, and that was just an excuse to work on his bike.

  With his riding leathers, tall, powerful build, and overall ‘don’t mess with me’ demeanor, a lot of people were intimidated by Kaval. Not me, though. I’ve always been able to see past his exterior at the teddy bear inside. Kaval would never hurt me, at least not physically. He’s always been there for me, in his own way. One time, a guy grabbed my ass in the lunchroom. Kaval knocked all of his front teeth out with one punch.

  I pull my battered pickup to a halt next to a line of other vehicles. Most of the coven is already here, but I have a right to be fashionably late to my own party, don’t I? Besides, I had a hell of a time picking out an outfit.

  Looking down at myself, I think I did all right. I’ve chosen a tight, body-hugging black skirt paired with a puffy-sleeved blouse that shows just the right amount of cleavage. A faux corset is laced around my midsection, giving me a sleek figure and providing a place to keep my phone. The skirt stops at mid-thigh, leaving a brief patch of smoothly shaven skin before my striped stockings start. Hiking boots complete the look, because heels would’ve just been stupid in this rough terrain.

  My hair was another matter. I almost went with pigtails, but tonight is about becoming an adult. I decided to put my hair up into a topknot and let it fan out down my back. A leather choker with a pentagram—which is not the same as a Satanic symbol, thank you very much—adorns my throat. I play with it idly as I follow the beaten trail toward the sounds of music, laughter, and the occasional loud clink of glass bottles being properly disposed of.

  I walk between a pair of shoulder-high conical pillars carved from a single solid boulder and enter the coven’s retreat property. Flames leap ten feet high from a massive bonfire. Witches from my coven twirl and prance around the fire, dancing to the rhythmic beat of loud music. A couple of elders approach me to pay their respects, then they quickly excuse themselves. I’m not a particularly powerful witch, so they won’t be staying for my whole party.

  “My” party might be a bit of a misnomer. I put my hands on my hips and glare at the party guests. No one has even noticed my arrival other than the elder witches of our coven, and they just wanted to get their obligatory pleasantries out of the way so they can go home and sleep. Even my supposed BFF Arianna hasn’t even looked in my direction.

  My good mood is starting to fade even before something ice-cold shocks my shoulder. I shriek and leap nearly a foot into the air.

  Deep, baritone laughter greets my semi-amused scowl when I turn around to find Kaval there. He’s holding two beers in one of his massive hands and has another wedged between his forefinger and middle finger.

  “Happy Birthday, Minnie,” he says, finally calming down.

  “I’ll forgive you for that if one of those beers is for me.” I arch a brow. One of those had better have my name on it.

  He extends the third beer to me. It’s already open and foam dribbles over the rim.

  Taking the cold bottle, I stare up into his beautiful face. His big expressive brown eyes and dazzling smile melt my heart. It should be illegal to be so damn sexy. Friends aren’t supposed to be this hot.

  Kaval is big, even for a Bear Clan shifter. His shoulders are so wide that he has to turn sideways to get through most doorways. He’s wearing his leather riding jacket tonight. It’s sexy as hell.

  Beneath the jacket, a tight white t-shirt does little to conceal the hard knots of muscle on his torso. His denim jeans, which are ripped in the knees, do nothing to hide his massive package. I swallow and look away. I shouldn’t be staring at him like this. He’s my friend. We’ve never been anything more than that. I wouldn’t want to ruin what we have by becoming lovers. It’s not worth the risk.

  “You’re looking good, Minnie.” His gaze rakes up and down my body.

  “Oh yeah?” I do a little twirl for him. “Do you like my outfit?”

  Kaval whistles loud enough that several of the party guests turn and notice me for the first time.

  “I love it.” His stare intensifies.

  There are times when I’m almost certain he’s attracted to me, but I could be projecting my own desires onto him. I certainly have thought about being with him—every girl in town has—but Kaval doesn’t do attachment. He’s lover material, not boyfriend material. We’re alike in some ways because I avoid attachments with other people too. It’s much safer that way. You can’t get your heart broken if you don’t give it to anyone.

  He shakes his head as if he’s coming out of an enchantment.

  “I have something for you.” He reaches into his back pocket and digs out a wrinkled piece of orange paper. “Happy Birthday.”

  “What is this?” I ask, laughing. My hand is tiny compared to his. I retrieve the paper. I unfold it to find a greeting card. On the cover, glitter-embossed candles adorn a towering cake. “It’s so fancy. Thank you, Kaval.”

  I lean up and kiss his smooth cheek. He blushes and quickly looks around to see if anyone is looking. I don’t know why he cares, but I don’t question it.

  “Kaval…” My fingers brush my lips. “Did you shave? You never shave.”

  “I shave,” he says defiantly. A second later, his massive shoulders sag a bit. “Well, not all the time. Once in a while. Anyway, open it.”

  I open the card. The flickering bonfire illuminates a handwritten note. I squint, but it’s hard to decipher his handwriting.

  “What does it say?”

  “It says you have a hundred hours of free labor at Claws,” he says with a shrug.

  “Oh...” I laugh. “I see. One hundred hours of free labor at the Claws and Steel Garage.” He owns the best car and bike repair shop in town. I twirl a strand of hair around my finger and give him a coy smile. “So... what kind of labor will you be performing?”

  I intended the line to be flirty, but he thinks I’m being serious.

  “Well…” His forehead scrunches as he ponders his response. “Y’know, your truck could probably use a tire rotation. Maybe an oil change. You should probably replace your battery terminals because that gets a lot of folks in trouble in the winter time, and—where are you going?”

  Car repairs? Seriously? He’s cute, but sometimes the man can be as dense as an oak tree.

  “I’m going to grab another beer.” I chuck my empty bottle into a metal trash can. It shatters on impact. “Thanks for the present.”

  I leave Kaval there scratching his head. I don’t want him to see my disappointment, so I quickly slip into the crowd.

  It takes me a few minutes to get through a crush of well-wishers who have finally decided to greet me. I end up doing a Jell-O shot, a Jaeger bomb, and a slippery nipple before I finally get a beer.

  My mind is buzzi
ng. So is my body. Moonlight pulses through me. I draw strength from the moon’s luminous presence. I don’t even drink the beer. I’m entranced by the sight of the bright white orb hovering in the night sky.

  Kaval’s probably still waiting for me. I tear my eyes away from the moon and spot him talking to Arianna.

  She’s leaning in close, and she’s running her fingers along his forearm. Her wide, dewy eyes bat up at Kaval. Even though I can’t hear her what she’s saying above the din of conversation, her intentions are obvious.

  What the hell is she doing? I turn my back for a minute, and she goes after my... my... what? My friend? Why am I so angry?

  The bottle in my hand shatters. Curious faces turn my way. I stand there not bothering to check for blood. Had I really been squeezing it that hard?

  I want to squeeze Arianna’s throat instead. Look at her with those tight booty shorts and crop top, rubbing her tits all over Kaval. Can’t she tell he’s not interested? She’s staring at me, her eyes wide. Not so flirty now, are you?

  Something bounces off my cheek. I glance around as pine needles, twigs, and even a black beetle have been swept into a slow-moving vortex which is whirling around my body. I hadn’t even realized I was using magic. It’s never come to me so easily; it must be the rage. I can’t stop it from bubbling up inside of me.

  Arianna’s supposed to be my best friend. How could she? How dare she!