Free Aimée and the Bear: A BBW Bear-Shifter Romance (Fairy Tales with a Shift) by Cara Wylde Page A

realized there was real money to be made if I only managed to offer the clients the roses they wanted, an idea struck me. The mansion was clearly abandoned. No one would miss a bunch of roses, especially since they would eventually grow back. I had never stolen a thing in my life, but it wasn’t called stealing if no one owned the flowers, right?
    I thought about this for a couple of days, and even made sure to pass by the abandoned mansion every time father sent me to the market to buy various things we needed. From what I could see through the heavy iron gate, the garden was more of a jungle. The wild roses were suffocated by weeds, and I soon convinced myself I’d do them a favor by picking and selling them at the market. At least they’d end up in tall, beautifully ornate vases, not die in an unkempt garden behind a house in ruins. On the fifth day, the decision was made.
    Since I wasn’t sure it would work, I didn’t tell anyone about what I was going to do. It was a sunny Sunday afternoon, and my father was resting while my sisters were reading. I told them I was getting bored at home and I felt like taking a walk to town. It was rather far from our farm, so I had all the time in the world to sneak in the garden, pick a bunch of roses, then bring them back home and put them in water until Monday morning. My heart started beating faster and my legs sped up with excitement at the thought that my father would be so surprised and happy to see how I came up with a new source of income. This was definitely worth it.
    At the crossroads, I took the left path instead of the right one, which led to town. The abandoned gothic mansion wasn’t far, but I was so eager to get there already that I started running. When I reached the front gate, I stopped for a second to take a couple of deep breaths and calm down my wild heartbeat. The gate was tall, made of solid iron, and it was secured with a thick chain and a huge lock. I looked around me, trying to find another way in. I was alone in the burning summer sun, surrounded by complete silence.
    “Not even the annoying chirp of crickets…” I whispered. I straightened my back and listened more carefully, trying to find the tiniest sound in the still air. Nothing. “Hmm… this is strange. No birds, no bees… How can it be so quiet?” A shiver ran up my spine and small goosebumps rose on my arms. I rubbed them to chase away the odd sensation and threw another glance at the tall mansion behind the gate. With its pointed arches that threw themselves up to the sky, and romantic decorative patterns, the building was absolutely beautiful. Too bad the paint was peeling off and the left wing looked like it had seen too many storms. “I wonder who lived here.” The only information I had been able to gather about the old mansion was that it was haunted. It belonged to a noble family, but all the members had perished under a terrible curse. No one knew more details, or they weren’t willing to share them. “Oh well, time to explore.” I took a deep breath and decided to walk along the stone fence, in hopes that I would eventually find a hole or a place where it had collapsed. Judging by the state the mansion was in, I was sure it wouldn’t be too difficult. And it wasn’t. After a ten-minute walk, I almost stumbled into a pile of bricks. That part of the wall was so damaged that it was unrecognizable. I pulled my skirt up so I could climb the pile easily, and I was on the other side of the fence in a matter of seconds.
    “That was almost too simple,” I said to myself. I knew it was weird to do it, but I always had the tendency to talk to myself. Now that no one was around, I felt more comfortable. At home, either Cécile or Diane would laugh at me or call me crazy every time they overheard me. I didn’t care, really. Thinking out loud helped me focus and make better decisions.
    I let my skirt fall to the ground, and the rim got caught in weeds. “Damn it!” I gathered the