Free Bear Valley Valentine: Valentine's Day Paranormal Romance by T. S. Joyce Page A

shocked to her core and crying. As the chill began to seep into her bones, she pushed herself upward and stumbled toward her car in a daze. Behind the wheel, she shut the car door and pressed the lock button. It wasn’t like Colin couldn’t get to her through her puny hatchback if he had the mind to. He was massive and belied a power she could only guess at. He could cut into it like a tin can.
    She turned the key and the engine roared to life. Her headlights illuminated Colin’s tiny cottage and his tiny shop—his tiny life.
    He could’ve killed her.
    He could’ve hurt her.
    She remembered the sick look on his face when he was about to show her what was living inside of him. This was why he banished himself to these mountains and to this lonely existence.
    You swore you wouldn’t leave , his voice whispered over the hum of her motor.
    Slamming her head back against the seat cushion, she searched for her dwindling inner strength. She couldn’t do this to him. Fuck, she couldn’t do it to herself without knowing everything. She wiped her damp lashes with her sleeve and turned the car off.
    A quick scan of the woods said the terrifying bear wasn’t anywhere near, so she made her way back to his house and let herself in. With one flip of the light switch, the entire living and kitchen area were illuminated.
    Every strange thing he’d done and said made sense now.
    Bearman28.
    His shifting eyes.
    The growl in his throat.
    His impeccable hearing.
    Those scars on his back weren’t just from any animal attack. She’d bet her flower shop they matched claws that looked like Colin’s.
    And that picture…
    She stood in front of it and saw it in a new light. It wasn’t some weekend retreat picture with his coworkers and their kids. It was taken in their home, in some wilderness somewhere where they’d felt safe. These weren’t people at all, but bear shifters Hadley had thought only belonged in legends and stories.
    The door creaked open, and Colin entered with his pair of tattered jeans clutched in front of his lap. The rest of him was bare, and he looked down at the carpet, as if he were ashamed. It ripped her guts out. She’d made him feel like this.
    Without a word, he disappeared into his bedroom, then reemerged five minutes later, dressed in a pair of loose sweatpants and an old T-shirt.
    “Who were they?” she asked in a small, tremulous voice.
    “That is Blood Den, my clan. I was their alpha, and they were my people.”
    “They’re all dead?”
    He still hadn’t lifted his gaze. “All but five. They live with another clan now.”
    Tears stung her eyes. “Why? Why aren’t they here with you?”
    “Because I don’t deserve them. I couldn’t protect them. Not any of them. Four of them barely escaped in the chaos with their lives. And Joanna was taken as a spoil of war.”
    “Who did this?”
    He rested his hips against the wall and leaned his head back, swallowing until his Adam’s apple dipped into the tensed muscles of his neck. “There aren’t many of us left now, but that wasn’t always how it was. We had separated into clans. Blood Den, Raiders, Kodiaks, Rocky Hunters, Long Claws, Ridgeback, and Bear Valley. The Long Claws made an alliance with us, with everyone, but they broke them when they became power hungry and wanted more territory. They didn’t care about the survival of bear shifters. They only cared about the survival of the Long Claws. They attacked during a time of peace, but I should’ve seen it coming. My second, Marshall, warned me time and time again that we were at risk, but I didn’t believe him. I was a young alpha, twenty-one and new to the rank, and I put my trust in those stupid alliances.” His voice dipped low, shaking with emotion. “I tried to save them, but we weren’t trained for war and Blood Den fell in a day. I fell too, but the Long Claws left me for dead. I didn’t quite get there.”
    Hadley’s face crumpled as the weight of his words settled over her