Laid Bear by Eve Vaughn (e books for reading .TXT) 📕

didn’t favor him or any of his relatives. She felt no visceral connection. And the little comments he made toward her came back. He’d called her a little bastard on a several occasions, but she thought he was just being his unfeeling self. And then there was Heath’s bizarre comment a few days ago in the woods when he implied he wasn’t her father. How did he know?

She turned to him. “Heath, you knew?”

Heath was leaning against the wall and stepped forward.

“I shouldn’t have dropped it on you in the heat of the moment like that. I already surmised you believed him to be your father, but the scents didn’t match. We all have our own unique scent and often we can sniff out a familiar connection even if it’s faint. There was nothing. Not like there is between you and your mother. I figured it out then.”

“I see.” She nodded, accepting his explanation. She turned back to her mother’s downcast eyes.

“Who is my real father?”

Tears misted in Rayna’s eyes. She clutched her chest as if she were having pains. “A good man. I just wish I had been brave enough to take the chance like I see you have.” She looked past Zora to Logan, Heath and Gavin.

Zora shook her head in confusion. “I don’t know what you’re trying to tell me.”

“I think I need to give you a little bit of background. I never knew who my father was. Your grandmother told me hardly anything about him. Apparently it was a great source of pain to her, but what I did get out of her was that they had a brief fling. He’d told her she was his mate or something of that nature. I didn’t really think too much of her odd choice of words, but there you have it. I think I was always starved for a father’s love so I sought it out in ways that I’m ashamed to admit. But through it all, Darren was around. He was a sweet boy, or so I thought. He was there through every break up, giving me a shoulder to cry on and offering me his friendship.

Then I met Calvin Wanamaker. He was tall, broad and just beautiful. I think I fell in love with him instantly. I knew right away that all those other guys didn’t mean a thing. And even when I told him about them he didn’t care.” A tear slid down her mother’s face. She hastily wiped it away.

Zora remained silent, waiting for her mother to finish.

“We got serious, then he mentioned something that threw me for a loop. He wanted me to meet his brothers. Calvin said it was important that I like them. I thought nothing of it until he introduced me to them and… well, then he told me they were descended from the Kelowna. They told me I was their mate. It brought back to mind what my mother said. Even though I felt a pull to his brothers, I didn’t believe them. And then they showed me. They turned into bears! I… your men…

they’re bears, aren’t they?”

Zora looked behind her to gauge her men’s reactions. Their expressions remained passive. She turned back to her mother.

“Yes.”

Rayna nodded. “Thought so. Those are some big boys.”

She chuckled to herself. But just as quickly, her expression turned grave. “Unlike you, I didn’t handle it well. I panicked and ran back to Darren. I needed his friendship and I told him everything, taking a risk that he’d think I wasn’t crazy. He believed me. Calvin and his brothers came looking for me, but I couldn’t face them. I was too much of a coward.”

Zora’s mother turned her head away. “A few weeks passed and I realized I was pregnant. I couldn’t tell my mother because I knew she’d be so disappointed. She wanted so much more for me than to bear a child out of wedlock. So I decided to go to Calvin, only to find he and his brothers had gone missing. Just like that. I couldn’t understand. I was frantic. Not only was I pregnant, but I’d lost the love of my life. And Darren… he was there. He offered to marry me as a way out, and coward that I was, I accepted. I felt love for him but I wasn’t in love with