Bear His Baby Read online

  Bear His Baby

  Midnight Sun Shifters

  By

  Scarlett Grove

  ***

  Copyright © 2015 Scarlett Grove

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Join Scarlett Grove’s mailing list for updates on new releases. Click here to join my newsletter. Or come visit my website at www.scarlettgrove.com.

  Table Of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter One

  Ella May twisted around to check the precious cargo in the backseat of her sedan. The ferry ride to Juneau had taken longer than she’d expected. Luckily for her, the baby had slept the whole time.

  The little one was only six months old. The long journey from Fairbanks had already taken days by car. The northern part of the state was covered in a blanket of deep snow and the winter darkness was starting to overtake the day.

  Juneau was Ella’s hometown. She was used to mild winters by Alaskan standards, and the crushing cold of Fairbanks had hit her hard over the last year and a half. No matter how much she missed the deep, emerald rainforest of the Alaskan panhandle, she’d vowed she’d never come home. Until now.

  Ella had left Juneau badly a year and a half ago. She doubted the damage she’d caused could ever be repaired. Ella caressed her baby’s cheek. Andrew had his father’s eyes. Green like all the Montgomery brothers. Her friends had teased her that she didn’t know who the father was. Ella knew. There had only ever been one man. Tate Montgomery: a bear shifter from one of the most prominent families in Juneau.

  She shuddered back a tear and gripped the steering wheel. She had come home to see her parents. With what she’d seen in Fairbanks, she knew she had to get out of town fast.

  Her parents were her only option. The girl she’d lived with had been kidnapped. Ella was lucky she’d made it out herself. The Glacier Wolf Pack were dangerous, violent criminals. They wouldn’t hesitate to drop her baby in a frozen river to teach her a lesson.

  The ferry boat slid over the waters between the outlying islands and the shore. She saw the buildings along the harbor come into view over the deck of the ferry. Her heart leapt in her chest and she began to breathe heavily. Nerves twisted in her chest and she felt sick. The ferry docked and cars rolled out in front of her. She eased the car down the deck, over the ramp, and onto the land. Finally on a street, Ella heaved a sigh of relief.

  She parked in a parking lot across from the main tourist drag and stopped the car. Ella quickly checked Andrew. He had just woken up, and the happy baby was full of smiles for his mother.

  “Are you hungry, sweetheart?” she asked him. She lifted him from the car seat and cradled him in the backseat of the car. He tugged at her shirt and she lifted it for the baby to drink from her breast.

  Her friends had all told her not to breastfeed. She wouldn’t be able to get her drink on if she did, but Ella had decided to give Andrew the best of herself. She’d stopped caring about getting her drink on since she’d found out he was coming.

  When Andrew was done, Ella put him in a stroller and wheeled him down the street to the nearest restaurant. She needed to sit somewhere still and warm for a while to gather her thoughts. She hadn’t spoken to her parents since she’d left a year and a half ago. They didn’t even know about the baby.

  Chapter Two

  Tate Montgomery held a tree cutting between his thumb and forefinger. He placed the small plant into a hydroponic substrate, then carefully set it in the planter bed under the high-powered full-spectrum halogen lamps. Tate had taken over responsibility for the Montgomery greenhouses when he was seventeen years old. At twenty-five, he was a confident businessman with expert horticultural skill.

  His brothers and cousins might make fun of him for being a gardener, but people can’t eat beef every meal. Tate provided the fresh foods for the entire clan. Not to mention crops like alfalfa and hay grown for his brother Keaton’s herd of Angus beef cattle.

  Tate had always wanted to be a gardener. It was the thing that made him the happiest in life. He enjoyed his time with his plants and the soil. It was like a little piece of heaven right here on earth in Alaska. Unlike most Alaskans, the people on the panhandle had a longer growing season and warmer weather. With his extensive greenhouses, Tate could grow just about anything all year round.

  He’d inherited the gardens and greenhouses from his great uncle, the previous gardener. Tate was in his late teens when his great uncle passed away. He’d learned everything from the man. Tate had never gone to college, but his skill level was far beyond what he would have acquired in a university. He felt confident that he could carry on his great uncle’s tradition.

  Tate’s life had been complete a year and a half ago. The girl he’d loved since he was seventeen had graduated high school, and he could finally ask her to be his. Ella had been three years younger than him, but they had been best friends the whole time.

  He’d finally told her she was his fated mate. He believed they would finally be together, but Ella had other ideas about what she wanted to do with her life. Tate would never understand. Just thinking about it filled him with anger. He tossed a pair of pruning shears onto his workbench and they made a loud clang as they hit an aluminum bowl.

  “What’s got your panties into a wad?” Tate’s brother Keaton said behind him. Tate turned slowly, clenching his jaw. He hated when his brother made fun of him. It was none of Keaton’s business why he was angry.

  “What are you doing here, Keaton? Shouldn’t you be out bedding down with your cattle?” Tate asked with a sneer. All the young unmarried Montgomery men were incessantly competitive with each other. They all loved each other like brothers, even Tate and Keaton’s cousins Shaw and Zane. They’d all grown up together and knew they could depend on each other for anything. Along with that closeness came the fun of be assholes to each other.

  “I told you a week ago I needed access to the other hay barn,” Keaton said, rolling his flannel shirt sleeves up over his burly, muscled forearms. Keaton was trying to be intimidating. Tate was only slightly smaller than Keaton, but Tate was faster. Keaton would have been wise to remember that.

  “You shouldn’t need that hay until late winter. Why do you need it now?”

  “I brought in another hundred head from one of the islands. I told you that at the last clan meeting. Don’t tell me you still have your head up your ass about that girl. What was her name?”

  “Shut the hell up, Keaton,” Tate said through clenched teeth.

  “That cute little Inuit chick you used to hang out with all the time back in high school. Ella right? Whatever happened to that girl? Wasn’t she her mate?”

  “Shut up!” Tate roared. Every muscle in his body tensed at the mention of her name. He’d known Ella was his mate from the first moment he laid eyes on her on her first day of high school. Her parents had moved to t
own when she was fourteen. He would never forget the sensation of his bear roaring inside of him that the big-eyed girl with beautiful, long black hair was his fated mate. She was the perfect woman for him, and they would love each other forever.

  Back then, everything had been so full of possibilities. He never believed they would ever be apart. Little did he know he was completely wrong.

  “What are you going to do about it, flower boy?” Keaton said, rolling his shoulders and giving Tate that cocky asshole expression he had just before a fight. Tate sprinted forward and swung at Keaton’s jaw. His tight fist connected with Keaton’s face, knocking him backwards. The big Montgomery bear shifter wasn’t fazed for very long. An angry Keaton was not something to be trifled with.

  His brother’s red flannel shirt ripped open as the bear burst out from beneath. Keaton roared in his bear form, knocking over rows of carefully repaired cuttings that Tate had spent all morning creating. Keaton’s grizzly smashed against the hanging lamps, and Tate lost it.

  His greenhouse already in shambles, Tate lunged at his brother, shifting into bear form as he jumped into the air. The smaller and lither, he jumped up and bit down on his brother’s back, drawing blood between sharp teeth.

  Keaton reared up on two legs, knocking his brother off his back. Tate went tumbling to the ground, rolling over onto his side. He scrambled to his feet and launched forward again as Keaton reared into the air a second time, growling. Tate bit his brother’s leg, crunching deep into the flesh and bone.

  Keaton yelped with pain and fell on Tate, crushing him under his massive weight. Tate felt the air forced out of his lungs as Keaton smashed on top of him. His brother’s moan vibrated through his body. Suddenly the weight rolled away, and Keaton stood in front of him, his leg bloody and his chest heaving.

  Tate stood up, shifting in mid-motion. Both men stood in the ruined greenhouse, naked and bloody. Tate’s ribs felt like they were cracked. Luckily for the temperamental Montgomery men, shifters healed quickly. But that didn’t help his ruined greenhouse.

  “With the fuck, bro?” Tate said.

  “You started it when you punched me, you little dick,” Keaton said, spitting blood.

  “Why do you have to be such an asshole all the time, Keaton? You know what happened with Ella. Why the hell do you have to bring that up all the time?”

  “Shit man, I’m sorry. Seriously, though, I’ll help you clean up this mess.”

  “You’re only doing this because you want the keys to the hay barn.”

  “So what if I am?”

  “Just get a shovel.”

  Chapter Three

  Ella sat at a booth in the busy restaurant and ordered the fish and chips from a waitress she didn’t recognize. A lot of people came in and out of Juneau because it was a tourist destination. It made her think of Tate. Had he found someone else yet?

  Unlike humans, shifters had what was called “fated mates.” In all the time she had known Tate, he’d never told her she was his. Not until their last night together. The night she graduated high school, they’d made love for the first time. He’d told her she was his mate and asked her to marry him.

  It had been such a massive shock. She’d known he was a bear shifter. She loved him like a girl who’d loved a boy since she was fourteen. Instead of being a happy revelation, Tate’s admission had seemed like a betrayal. Even worse, it felt like a trap.

  She had a cousin in Fairbanks who worked at a night club near the military base. For the horny and lonely men on the Alaskan tundra, all pretty girls were a novelty, and they tipped well.

  Ella had lived a sheltered life. Her parents had become religious after her mom’s sister had died of an overdose. Ella couldn’t spend her whole life afraid. Tate’s declaration of eternal, undying love had scared the crap out of her. She ran. She ran from all of it.

  She left Juneau and Tate behind the morning after she graduated high school. Two months after arriving in Fairbanks, she found out she was pregnant with Tate’s baby. She’d thought about coming back to Juneau. She’d thought about giving up. In the end, she’d decided to make it on her own with the baby. At least she’d be calling the shots in her life that way.

  The waitress brought Ella her fish and chips. She poured malt vinegar over her food. This restaurant had the best fish and chips in Alaska. She took a big bite and let out a little moan. That’s when a smartly dressed, white-haired woman slipped into the booth across from her.

  At first, Ella thought the woman was an elderly tourist. White hair usually meant old. When she looked closer at the woman, she realized she couldn’t be more than thirty-five. Not only that, she wore expertly applied, high-end makeup and a skirt suit that belonged on some fashion runway in Europe. Ella remembered she’d seen this woman before.

  “Babs Bula,” Ella said. “I remember you. Can’t you find anywhere else to sit?” she asked, feeling irritated at the intrusion. She knew this woman’s modus operandi.

  “Ella May. Oh my God. I can’t believe you’re back in town. And with a baby. Would you look at those green eyes? So familiar.”

  “What do you want?” Ella asked, reaching for the baby as he began to fuss.

  “Don’t worry, dear. I won’t be long.”

  “I’m waiting,” Ella said. Babs Bula ran a shifter dating agency called Fairy Godmother Dating. FGD.com. From what Tate had told her, none of the shifters could tell if Babs was human or shifter. Some of them joked that she really was a fairy godmother. She also had an office downtown.

  “I wanted to see for myself,” Babs said.

  “See what?” Ella was getting irritated.

  “My husband swore that you would become a native stereotype after you left Juneau.”

  “Oh my God! Tell your husband to go screw himself.”

  “I never thought you would, dear,” Babs patted Ella’s hand. “He owes me five dollars.” Babs giggled behind her immaculately manicured hand.

  Babs took Ella’s hand and leaned across the table, staring her directly in the eyes. “There’s still time, dear. Tate has come a long way since you left. He’s a man now.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “You might be his mate, Ella, but Tate can’t wait forever.”

  “What are you talking about?” She repeated, feeling a rush of nervous apprehension. Could he find happiness in some other woman’s arms?

  “Well. I might not be able to find him his true mate. We both know who that is. But I can find him someone in the general vicinity. There are so many applicants online. Every day more come in, from all over the country, the world, begging to be matched with an eligible shifter male.”

  “Some people are super desperate,” Ella said, bouncing the baby gently in her arms.

  “All right, dear,” Babs said. She tapped Ella on the tip of the nose with the tip of her forefinger. Ella leaned back in surprise. Babs withdrew, standing with a flourish. “You aren’t desperate. Are you, dear? It isn’t as if you could use a man like Tate Montgomery to keep you warm, now, is it? Ta ta!” Babs gave her a cutesy little wave and flounced away.

  What a bitch. Fairy Godmother my ass, Ella thought. That woman had something wrong in the head. Ella shook her head and bounced the baby who was already tugging at her shirt again.

  “We need to get home, Andrew,” she whispered into his soft head. The smell of his skin filled her senses with its sweetness. She loved her baby so much. Every time she looked at him, he reminded her of Tate.

  Babs had been insulting, but she’d made Ella think. Why had she wanted to run away so badly? Had it been worth it in the end?

  She couldn’t think about it now. She had to get her baby somewhere warm and safe before the night set it. She only had a few hours before dark. If her parents wouldn’t take her in, she would have to find a place to stay with the last of her money. Even then, it would run out fast.

  She strolled the baby to the parking lot and fed him in the warmth of the running car. She needed him happy when sh
e got to her parents’ house.

  She drove out of Juneau and into the hills north of town. Her parents had a small spread of land overlooking the ocean, high on a wooded hillside. You could even see the ocean from their patio. There was a dusting of snow on the ground high up, and Ella shivered. The cold had been getting under her skin since she’d left Fairbanks. It seemed so hard to get warm.

  Turning down her parents’ driveway, she cranked the heater up and pushed on the gas as she took the elevation. Finally, the porch lights of her parents’ two-story house came into view. She parked in the front driveway and got out.

  Walking up the stairs with Andrew in tow, she looked at the dark windows. The baby fussed in her arms and she made a soothing noise.

  “It’s okay. We’ll be inside in a minute.”

  She went to the door and knocked, expecting the door to swing open any second. Her heart raced. What would her mom say? What would her dad do?

  Nothing happened.

  She knocked again.

  Nothing.

  Andrew began to cry. There were no dog sounds. Her parents’ dogs always barked at the door. Ella looked onto the driveway. One of their cars was missing. They must be gone.

  The temperature was dropping fast, and she hurried back to the car as twilight set in. Part of her was tempted to find an open window or door and go inside. But she couldn’t do that. Maybe her parents would call the cops. Stranger things had happened to kids she knew.

  She got in the car and turned it on, holding Andrew in the front seat with the heater going. She clicked the radio and listened to the local DJ play oldies rock music. She waited. And waited.

  She couldn’t just sit here all night or she’d run out of gas. Ella put Andrew in his car seat and started down the driveway. When she got down the hill, she turned back into town and looked for a hotel. She felt dumb for not calling first.

  She found a cheap hotel outside of town and paid for a room.

  The room was warm and she laid on the bed with Andrew on her chest. After running for two days, she was so close to security yet still so far away.