Free Her Bah Humbug Bear (A BBW Paranormal Holiday Romance) by Marie Mason Page A

hadn’t shared all of the details, the details that he thought made him unlovable. Undeserving. But he’d shared enough to make her hope he had finally started to heal.
    He started to shake his head and she placed her hand against his jaw. “Yes, you are. Do you honestly think your family would want you to forsake your future?”
    “You don’t understand.”
    “Yes, I do. I understand you’ve locked yourself away from all feeling because you can’t stand the ache inside when you allow yourself to feel. I’m all alone, too, Dirk. My heart aches everyday for love.”
    “Mercy.”
    She wanted to take the grief from his voice, the emptiness from his words, the loneliness from his soul. Despite the grumpy, Bah Humbug attitude he exhibited, the negative emotions didn’t suit him. She had felt the passion he had for her, had thought she’d felt the first soft tendrils of love for her last night.
    She knew she loved her bear. A sob almost escaped her. Her bear. Her Bah Humbug bear. How fitting that she’d fallen in love with a man who didn’t enjoy Christmas anymore when she was just now getting the opportunity to experience the season. She let her hand drop to her side and slid it inside her coat pocket to hide its trembling. “It’s your decision. Just know that I do love you with all my heart and soul.”
    She couldn’t even choke out a goodbye so she hurried to the door, closing it quietly behind her. She saw the cake she’d brought yesterday still in its container, sitting so innocently on the rocker. She wanted to laugh. Her desire to show her appreciation to the man had somehow morphed into the most incredible night of her life. She hurried to her car, barely taking the time to knock off the snow that had gathered on her windshield. She certainly didn’t take the time to allow it to defrost properly. Luckily the snow had only just now started and she was able to start the car and go.
    Looking in her side view mirror, she saw him standing on the porch, his arms crossed and that perpetual frown on his face. Her bear, she thought sadly, her Bah Humbug bear was going to have a lonely Christmas, too.
    Dirk’s bear clawed inside him, demanding that he shift and follow Mercy into town. Not to ensure that she made it back down the mountain safely—which was what the man knew that he should do—but to chase her, capture her, and bring her back to the cabin. His bear set up a roar inside him that tore through his heart and soul.
    Mate.
    The side of his face still burned from her touch. He knew what she’d seen as she searched his face. An angry bear. A man unwilling to let go of the past. He couldn’t, Dirk assured himself, even though it felt as if his heart was shattering inside his chest. He had nothing to offer her. Inside he was as icy and cold as the snowy winter around him.
    His emotions had withered up and died the day he had failed to protect his family. The day they had died because of him. Him. No one else but him. Turning, he walked back into the house, even though he wanted to shift and run into the forest, allow the solitude to engulf him. He knew if he gave into his animal, the animal would follow the woman who held their heart. The animal, just seconds before roaring in aggression, deflated as the red of her taillights faded, realizing the man would not be going after their mate
    Grabbing a shirt by the door, he pulled on his boots and went out into the cold again, heading toward the small shop he’d built behind the cabin. He’d taken up woodcarving as a way to calm his racing thoughts and ease his tattered soul. Much to his surprise, he had exhibited a natural aptitude for carving. Maybe it was the animal inside him, but Dirk could take a piece of wood, large or small, and see the shape he was meant to create. From large, exquisite wooden murals, to the simplest of Christmas ornaments. That was what he was concentrating on now. Ornaments that could be sold in the gift center Marcus was planning