Bearly Dating

By Calandra Hunter

His fake boyfriend is causing his bear real problems

 

When Jonathan is invited back home to his grandparents' wedding anniversary, it only takes his overbearing mom a couple seconds to start setting him up with some nice eligible shifter men in his hometown. Lying about having a boyfriend means he'll have to play pretend, but Jonathan is used to that. After almost losing control of his bear, he's pretended not to have an inner animal for so long that his bear has gone dormant.

 

Until Jonathan meets the guy who'll be his fake boyfriend.

 

Eric needs a distraction after breaking up with his cheating ex-boyfriend, and being someone else for a weekend sounds perfect. Pretending to be the boyfriend of a fun, attractive guy like Jonathan will be easy — so long as Eric can ignore his growing, genuine attraction to the other man.

 

Surrounded by dozens of nosy and meddling family members, a terrible thunderstorm, and an inner bear that won't be ignored, Jonathan and Eric have to figure out what's real and what's pretend, or else they'll only be bear-ly dating.

 

Bearly Dating is a stand alone shifter romance, and perfect if you love fake dating, pining, and one very stubborn bear.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Calandra Hunter
• Release date: Dec 3, 2016
• ISBN: 9781540178602

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Bearly Dating

by Calandra Hunter

Copy right 2016 Calandra Hunter

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 author or publisher except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews. All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or deal, is purely coincidental.

License Notes

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1. Jonathan

Jonathan? You got mail.

Hm? How did you say ‘I am not your company’s IT department, go away’ to a former client without them going to another computer security specialist for their next big project? On the one hand, Jonathan supposed it was a compliment. It meant Mr. Stevens, a partner at a local law firm, felt that Jonathan had been very helpful when he had worked on a project to make their systems even more secure and safe from hackers. On the other hand, that law firm had a pretty decent IT department that could explain to Mr. Stevens the difference between a phishing scam and an email that really came from Mr. Stevens’ bank.

You’ve got mail. Snail mail. His PA, Catherine, dropped an envelope on his keyboard.

He couldn’t think of anyone who would send him anything by post.

He glanced up at Catherine, who was still standing by his desk, clearly as curious as he was. This arrived today?

She shrugged. I only check our mailbox once every month. There’s rarely anything in it, she added, sounding defensive. Usually it’s junk mail.

He opened it, throwing the envelope aside. Inside was an invitation, in a fancy, cursive font, and he groaned before he was halfway through. Oh God, it’s my grandparents’ fiftieth wedding anniversary.

And they sent your invite here? Why not to your apartment? Catherine picked up the envelope, checking the address again. That’s weird.

It wasn’t weird at all. Jonathan and his parents didn’t see eye to eye on several things. They wanted him to settle down, Jonathan enjoyed the single life far too much. His parents wanted him to live in a cabin in the middle of the woods like they did, or a nearby small town at the most, Jonathan wanted to live in the big city.

The problem had never been his homosexuality, and Jonathan knew he was lucky in that respect. He had come out to his bear shifter family during college, when he had still spent part of the summer holidays with them. His siblings hadn’t really cared, or perhaps already suspected, his father had nodded as if Jonathan had told him about his latest exams, and his mother had smiled and told him that she didn’t care if he liked boys or girls, so long as he found someone who loved him.

Before his coming out, his mother had constantly tried to set him up with nice shifter girls in the area.

After his coming out, the only thing that had changed the gender of the person he was being set up with.

Jonathan supposed his mother meant well, but he was pretty sick and tired of every conversation with his mom leading to her telling him about this nice bear shifter guy who had moved into town a month ago, or how she knew of a nice gay wolf shifter whose parents were friendly with one of her sisters.

No matter how many times Jonathan had told his mom that he wasn’t looking to settle down with someone, she didn’t seem to get the message. As far as she was concerned, a happy bear shifter was a bear shifter with a family to call his own.

After his last move two years ago, he hadn’t told his parents his new address. So how had his grandparents even found him? Had they finally discovered the advantages of the Internet and joined the 21st century? They probably had help from one of their more tech-savvy grandchildren or friends. I think this is the only address they have for me.

You don’t sound too happy they found it, Catherine put a hand on his shoulder. Is there bad blood in your family? Or do they disapprove of you being gay?

No, nothing like that, he hedged. It was hard to explain to Catherine, who was a human, what issues he had with his family. They had…different expectations for me.

Catherine snorted. You sure they’re not homophobic? Besides, you’re a successful business owner. You can just turn up in that Porsche of yours!

He smiled wanly, shaking his head. They’re not going to be impressed by my car.

Maybe a few of his cousins would be, but his grandparents and parents would take one look at his Porsche and consider it pointless since it wouldn’t be any good off-road.

Catherine still looked puzzled. You don’t have to go if you don’t want to. Just send them a polite letter and a gift. Tell ‘em you’re busy.

He looked at the dates. The party was this weekend, from Friday evening through to Sunday afternoon. It had been a long time since he had seen his family. He called his parents once a month, and lately they hadn’t mentioned setting him up with any of the gay shifter men they knew. Jonathan suspected that was because they were too busy cooing over their first grandchild, Toby. Helen, one of Jonathan’s younger sisters, had given birth to him three months ago. It would be nice to spend more time with his siblings and nephew.

He decided he would go if it was possible. With his mother distracted by Toby, Jonathan would be safe. Oh, they’d be disappointed that he still didn’t have any plans on moving back home, but Jonathan had lived with that for years. Can you check my schedule? I’d like to go if I can.

Sure, I’ll let you know.

He finished the email to Mr. Stevens, and read through a couple of others, but his eyes drifted back to his grandparents’ invitation. It had been a while since he had taken time off from work, being self-employed made it more difficult to go on vacation. He glanced at the doorway that connected his office to Catherine’s. It couldn’t take that long to check his schedule, could it?

She didn’t get back to him until an hour later, when Jonathan had decided to bury himself in a pesky coding problem. You’re lucky it’s a slow week. I had to move a couple of meetings, she announced, looking pleased when she came in, but I’ve cleared this weekend for you. The Thursday afternoon before and Monday morning after are empty as well, but I’m guessing you’re gonna need the Monday to catch up on the emails that’ve come in while you are away.

Great, thanks, Cat. Depending on how far he could get with his current projects, Jonathan thought Catherine would be able to do plenty in his absence. She wrangled new and current clients, and occasionally his fellow computer experts. I better give my grandparents a call, tell ‘em the good news.

She nodded, then left for her own desk.

Jonathan, how nice of you to call! his grandmother said, after Jonathan had asked her how they were. We’re both fine, although Will’s having trouble lately keeping up with me while we’re out.

He laughed as his granddad protested in the background. So nothing’s changed, then. Anyway, I was calling you about the invitation.

Ah, so that’s finally arrived, then? Honestly, Jonathan, how could you not tell your own parents you’d moved?

They’d just be disappointed I hadn’t moved back home, he mumbled, knowing it was a terrible excuse.

Yes, are you sure that —

I like it here, he interrupted her. Grandma, I do. I know you and Granddad and everyone else don’t get how I can be happy in the big city, but I am.

And does your bear like it?

He sighed. He’s been…dormant. Jonathan hadn’t shifted in years. One of the last times he shifted hadn’t gone well. The incident was still fresh in his mind. He had been sixteen and driving his dad’s old pick-up truck back home when some of the other kids from his class had passed him by in their cooler, newer cars. Being the only small town kid in class had made him the target of the suburban bullies, who called him a redneck and trailer trash, amongst some homophobic slurs. Jonathan wasn’t sure if they, like himself, had suspected that he was gay, or if they just called any boy they didn’t like a fag.

Trying to tell them he lived in a cabin hadn’t exactly helped, and the bullies made sure only to tease him when the teachers weren’t around. Jonathan had felt helpless, and his bear’s desire to fight back only made it worse.

That afternoon, his bear’s anger had been particularly strong. One of the bullies, a basketball player called Kevin, had led two of his friends in trying to drive Jonathan’s pick-up truck off the road. Their cars might’ve been smaller, but the constant nudging and pushing had tested Jonathan’s patience and self-control until he had pulled over and got out.

The rage had been overwhelming, and he had snarled at Kevin as the other boy had got out too. Kevin had taunted him, asking him if growling was how all rednecks talked, and Jonathan’s bear had taken over. He had shifted in front of them, growling at the three teenagers to scare them into submission. Jonathan still remembered their pale faces at the sight of 600 pounds of grizzly bear.

They had run for their cars, and while it had been tempting to chase after them and maybe claw at their cars, Jonathan had stayed on the road as they had sped off. The growling and roaring was enough to scare the other teenagers, and he still remembered how pleased he had felt about that, how satisfying it had been to smell their fear.

Despite the pleasure of scaring Kevin, he had still felt anger burning white-hot inside of him and he needed to let it out of his system. He had clawed at some trees and chased after a couple of deers — not with the intention of killing them, but to scare them as well.

It had taken a few hours to calm down enough to shift back, and as a human, Jonathan had been horrified at having lost control like that. He had been unable to tell his parents what had happened. It was a huge taboo, shifting in front of humans. He knew he had come very close to attacking them, and that was something only out of control shifters did.

Fortunately, Kevin and his two friends hadn’t told anyone Jonathan had shifted in front of them, instead saying a bear had come out of nowhere and that they had barely escaped with their lives. The story, spread around the high school, had eventually reached Jonathan’s family in a distorted form that had left him out of it, and his parents had concluded that it must’ve been one of the wild grizzlies in the area, since no bear shifter would do such a thing.

He had heard stories from his parents about feral shifters who spent so much time in animal form that they still acted like animals even when human, and eventually they would stop shifting back. Some of them even attacked fellow shifters who were trying to help them.

After that afternoon, Jonathan understood why some shifters preferred living as an animal. It was so much easier, letting your instincts guide you. If you were angry, you didn’t have to ignore it and play nice; you could snarl and chase off whoever it was that angered you. Jonathan had felt strong and powerful as a bear; the complete opposite of how he felt as a human dealing with high school sometimes. He had decided to shift as little as possible from then on, not wanting to take the risk.

The only times he had shifted since then was with his parents, to go on long rambling walks through the woods, far away from humans and only when his parents cajoled him into it. When was the last time he had shifted? It must’ve been during college, when he occasionally went to his parents’ cabin for the holidays. So maybe nine, ten years?

He had become used to repressing his bear’s urges as much as possible. Over time, it had become easier, until Jonathan barely felt his bear stir at all.

Your bear’s dormant? his grandmother repeated, incredulous. Haven’t you been shifting lately? That doesn’t sound healthy, Jonathan.

He shrugged. I’m feeling fine, Grandma. He lowered his voice. It’s like hibernation, and that is perfectly normal.

She harrumphed. Not for shifters.

He didn’t reply for a long time, feeling the same irritation grow as when he was talking to his parents about shifting. Best to switch the subject. Anyway, I was calling about your invitation. I’d like to come down for the entire weekend.

Oh, that’s great! His grandmother’s tone had changed completely, she sounded overjoyed as she told his grandfather the good news. Everyone’ll be so happy to see you, and Toby’s already grown so much!

He smiled at the thought of seeing his nephew again. I bet. I was wondering, though, since everyone’s expected to be there the entire weekend…where am I supposed to sleep?

Don’t worry about that, she assured him. "There’s a cabin half a mile down the road