Free Scottish Werebear: A Second Chance: A BBW Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance (Scottish Werebears Book 6) by Lorelei Moone Page A

dream?
    How is this possible?
    Charlie looked up at him. His eyes had changed again. Gone was the pain she'd seen before. It had been replaced with the same tenderness and hope she'd seen yesterday.
    This man was going to drive her crazy with his mood swings.
    "We may have shown ourselves to the world now, but there's still a lot you need to know about our kind," he said.
    "I've got time," Charlie whispered.
    Neither of them broke eye contact. The air between them seemed to be heavy with tension.
    "Well," James started. "When a man meets a woman... and they really like each other." He winked at her.
    "Don't tell me you're going to talk about birds and bees next," Charlie remarked.
    "There she is, my old friend Charlie McAllister. She's back!" James joked.
    Charlie scoffed but couldn't suppress a smile.
    "So I was saying. When a couple
really
like each other, they connect on a deeper level."
    James' tone was serious again. No matter how strange it sounded, he was no longer joking.
    "And then they hear voices?" Charlie asked.
    "They can communicate by thought, yes."
    Charlie shook her head. If she hadn't just experienced it, she would have never believed it.
    "You're a weird lot; you know that?" she said.
    James shrugged. "There are a lot of upsides. If you can deal with crazy paranoid humans hunting you."
    "Such as?"
    "Well, couples have no secrets. They're faithful for life. When a shifter finds their true mate, they become whole together."
    "But I'm not a shifter," Charlie remarked.
    "I know. And that's why I left back then. Under the old rules, we were only supposed to pair up within our species. But I've since learned that it works the same even if one partner is human."
    "Wait, are you trying to tell me that simply because I kissed a shifter when I was seventeen, I basically ruined any hope of ever having a relationship with anyone else? And if we hadn't run into one another now, I would have remained single forever?" Charlie asked.
    "Uhh..." James looked away sheepishly. "If it helps, there's been no one else in my life either."
    Charlie sat back on the bench and looked across the open views of the park ahead of them. "That's so weird."
    James put his arm around her, causing her to close her eyes involuntarily. Who could have guessed that today would turn out this way? Sure, she'd hoped it would, but when he confronted her about her work, she had lost all hope.
    "James Finch?" a voice interrupted them. A man approached. His hair was cropped short, and he was wearing a black leather biker jacket, jeans, and heavy black boots.
    Charlie could feel James tense up beside her. Although there was nothing obviously wrong yet, she sensed the danger his instincts had alerted him to. This telepathic communication thing really did work.
    "Who wants to know?" James asked.
    "Victor Domnall sends his regards," the man said.
    Knife!
Within a split second, James pushed her down the bench and flung himself at the stranger in a blur of claws and fur. That's when the darkness claimed Charlie.

Chapter Eleven
    By the time James got Charlie back to Eric's place, everyone was on high alert. She was still out, so he laid her down on his bed before joining the rest of the crew in the living area.
    Everyone sat around, lost in thought, but Henry was furious.
    "How could this happen?" he demanded. "Were you followed?"
    James thought back to earlier that day. He'd been upset after finding out about Charlie's job. Had he let his guard down? It was possible.
    "I'm not sure. I sure as hell didn't see anyone," James said. Then again, he had been so focused on Charlie, he hadn't even seen the guy videoing the whole thing on his phone.
    "And did you
have
to charge at him the way you did? It's all over Facebook now!" Henry paced back and forth.
    "He tried to attack my mate with a knife. What would you have done?" James felt himself get angry all over again. Of all people, Henry should understand. He would stop at nothing to defend Gail.
    "Oh. She's