Free Bunny Bear - Wild Bear 02 by Ruby Shae Page B

across town, and one in every city surrounding Liberty, the Wild Bear had experienced tremendous success. He was proud of what he’d accomplished and he’d always thought love would happen when it was supposed to.
    He’d hired Michelle on the spot, but when he’d overheard her tell a group of humans she hated shifters, his bear went wild. Pain, anger and betrayal had made him ache, but he’d also wanted to hunt her down and force her to accept him. The conflicting feelings were a struggle to control, and he often teetered between punishing her in the bedroom until she changed her mind, and firing her from the bar so he never had to see her again.
    Yeah right!
    He knew he would never willingly let her go, even if she wanted nothing to do with him. Aside from the fact that he felt the need to protect and take care of her, she was a good waitress and the patrons loved her.
    Many of them loved her too much, which made his bear linger just below the surface.
    Shifters had a higher tolerance for alcohol than humans, but they did get rowdy and loud after a few drinks. He usually worked in his office until ten, and then he’d walk the floor until closing. Lucky handled almost all of the fights and removals, and he often spent his nights following Michelle around and issuing warnings to the rowdy bears. He looked after Tanya, too, but the other woman didn’t garner as much attention as his mate.
    If Michelle knew he followed her, she didn’t let on, and he preferred it that way. He favored her more than he did his other employees, but no one seemed to notice or care. He also noticed he was harder on her, and often bossed her around, asserting his dominance, for no apparent reason. If he could find a way to boss her into his bedroom, he would have done it a long time ago.
    While his nights were spent in the hub of the bar, he passed his days by burying himself deeper into the behind the scenes of his business.
    Everything had been fine until Lucky showed up.
    His cousin Isabelle and Lucky were perfectly matched, and the spark between the two was hard to miss. Their passion rekindled his desire for a mate, and he began dating again in an effort to find another woman who called to both him and his bear.
    Unfortunately, he compared every woman to Michelle.
    In this case, he should have listened. His bear growled, confirming the obvious. He should have listened to his heart and not his head.
    He grabbed the neck of the suit and ripped it off his body. He didn’t care about losing his deposit, or paying for the ridiculous costume. He was thirty-five years old and he’d never done something so out of character for someone he didn’t trust, and there was a reason for that.
    There hadn’t been a party.
    The woman, a shifter hater like Michelle, had invited him over in costume so she and her friends could laugh at him. He hadn’t experienced such blatant hatred in so many years, he’d been shocked. The only reason he hadn’t asserted his alpha side, or shifted and taught them a lesson they’d never forget, was because he didn’t attack women in either form unless his life depended on it. After a few minutes of their ridicule, he’d walked away without a word and returned home.
    Aside from the inconvenience, the only pain he’d endured was the awareness Michelle could have been with them. He’d actually combed through the group of mocking women, looking for her familiar face, not knowing what he’d do if he found her.
    Michelle is nothing like those women.
    It was true, he’d never seen Michelle do anything so degrading to anyone, human or shifter, but he knew he’d overheard her words correctly. She hated shifters, and he could never be with anyone who couldn’t accept all of him.
    He peeled off his soaking wet t-shirt, athletic shorts and boxers and stepped into the cool spray of the shower. Liberty was in the center of the nation, but with a forest on one side, and a nature preserve on the other, the cross breeze kept