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

shoulders like a suffocating blanket. She slid down against the wall until she was sitting with her arms draped over her knees. Hot tears made streams of pain down her face as she imagined the things he’d seen and been through. How could a soul bear so much? “What happened to the Long Claws?”
    “They came for Bear Valley a few years ago, and I lined up for battle there to finally avenge my people. But as the fighting started, the Long Claw’s new alpha called an end to the war. Eventually, the Long Claws who had ordered my clan and the Kodiaks to be annihilated were overthrown and killed. They’re a reformed clan now with new, ironclad alliances with Bear Valley. I try to tell myself that, but my bear only understands vengeance. There was no justice for my people. Now, I’m broken. You’re the only thing that has soothed me in the seven years since I lost them.”
    Hadley rubbed her cool palm over her forehead, like it would calm the headache that was forming behind her eyes. No wonder Colin kept his secrets so guarded. His ability to keep them meant the safety of an entire group of people whose survival depended on humans not knowing about their existence. Oh, she could guess what people would do if they found out men who turned into grizzlies walked among them. They’d snuff bear shifters out entirely.
    “Who else knows?”
    “Shifters and human mates only. There are only a couple in Bear Valley. Riker, the alpha of Bear Valley has a human mate, and his sister is mated to a human, as well. You’re the only one outside of my people I’ve ever talked to about this.”
    “Human mate? Is that what I am to you?”
    “Yes.”
    She clenched her hands as his words of devotion filled her with hope that they could have a future. She dipped her voice to a whisper. “When you asked me to be your Valentine, were you really asking me to be your mate?”
    Such raw openness pooled in his eyes as he held her with his gaze. “Yes.”
    A familiar fluttering filled her stomach, and she closed her eyes at the relief. Colin being a bear shifter didn’t change how she felt about him. It didn’t change who he was. He’d been more caring toward her than anyone she’d ever been with, and not even a hidden grizzly could change how pure and good his heart was.
    Colin watched her with something akin to hope in his eyes. He approached slow and knelt down in front of her. He held her hands in his and brought her knuckles to his lips. He laid a long, tender kiss there as he searched her eyes for something she couldn’t fathom. “Is what you said out there still true? Do you still love me?”
    She couldn’t help the slow smile that stretched her face. “Your bear doesn’t matter. I was scared when you turned into him because I didn’t expect it, but you’re still mine, Colin Cross, bear shifter of Blood Den. You’re a broken alpha, and I love you enough to want to shoulder that burden with you. You aren’t alone with this anymore. Now, you have me.”
    Colin was meant for more than the life he’d forced himself into. It wasn’t his fault that his clan had died. The blame was on the clan who’d gone after his people. Anyone with eyes could see Colin bore the scars for his people. He’d tried to protect them at the cost of his body and soul, but she would do everything in her power to heal him.
    No Valentine’s Day gift could ever touch the one he’d given her tonight. The one where he shared his deepest secret self with her and asked her to accept all of him. She did. She loved him more now because of his bravery. Her Bearman.
    Someday, somehow, he would be the alpha of Blood Den again.
    And it started with her.
    She reached up and traced the curved scar across his cheek, the mark she’d grown to adore because it told of her mate’s strength. “Now, I’m Blood Den, too.”

Sneak Peek
    THE WITNESS AND THE BEAR
    (Bear Valley Shifters, Book 1)
    Read on for a sneak peek of the thrilling first book in the Bear Valley