Bear Hug

By Tielle St. Clare

Deacon Markson is all business...until he sees a bear turn into a man and starts to question his own sanity. Still, work is his refuge—along with the occasional one-night stand. Except his last hook up, left him strangely dissatisfied. They clicked but something wasn’t right. Too bad he can’t get the big guy out of his thoughts.

Now his best friend is mixed up with those crazy shifter guys and his one-night stand might be more than he thought.

Phineas Keene does his shifting in the middle of nowhere—or so he thought. When he finds out Deacon saw him change from bear to man, he nearly panics. Instead, the two men share a night of sex that leaves him wanting more. But even if Deacon didn’t recognize him, getting close is too risky. Too bad Phineas can’t stay away from the sexy man who threatens their very existence.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tielle St. Clare
• Release date: Mar 24, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463392973

Book preview

Bear Hug

by Tielle St. Clare

Smashwords Edition

Copyright © 2020 T. L. Green

Cover design by Erin Dameron-Hill / EDHGraphics

All rights are reserved. This e-book is licensed for individual readership only. No portion of this e-book may be resold or redistributed in any format.

To obtain permission to excerpt portions of the text, please contact the author at https://www.facebook.com/tiellestclare/

Author’s Note

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters and events are creations of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to any persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

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Bear Hug

Deacon Markson is all business…until he sees a bear turn into a man and starts to question his own sanity. Still, work is his refuge—along with the occasional one-night stand. Except his last hook up, left him strangely dissatisfied. They clicked but something wasn’t right. Too bad he can’t get the big guy out of his thoughts.

Now his best friend is mixed up with those crazy shifter guys and his one-night stand might be more than he thought.

Phineas Keene does his shifting in the middle of nowhere—or so he thought. When he discovers Deacon saw him change from bear to man, he nearly panics. Instead, the two men share a night of sex that leaves him wanting more.

But even if Deacon didn’t recognize him, getting close is too risky. Too bad Phineas can’t stay away from the sexy man who threatens their very existence.

Prologue

Deacon stepped off the short ladder and walked backward into the center of the small clearing. He pulled out his phone and checked the image. There he was. Smack dab in the middle of the forest.

He scanned the host tree for his spy gear. The lens poked out from between the green leaves, hard to spot without knowing it was there. Not that he cared. He wasn’t hiding a camera from the nanny or trying to take private porno pix. He hunted for a wild beast.

The edge of his mouth kicked up in self-mocking smile.

So dramatic.

He’d hunted before, when he was a child. His father had been big on making-a-real-man-out-of-you activities. They typically involved a weapon of some kind and blood.

He shoved the memories aside. He had no intention of killing the cat. He wanted his best friend, Quincy, to see it.

Deacon was no animal expert, but a cat like that didn’t belong in Alaska. It looked like a jungle cat that would be hunted for its fur. Snow leopard? He didn’t think so. They had two of those in the Alaska zoo but none in the wild. Quincy wasn’t an animal expert either but he watched a lot of nature TV and would be able to identify it.

He’d only seen the cat a few times. The thing had zipped across the clearing around his cabin and run for the trees like its tail was on fire.

Deacon had given chase. Obviously, no chance of catching the wild animal, but he’d found the cat’s footprints in the mud. At least he assumed they were cat prints. Again, no animal expert but soft indentations into the damp soil looked about the right size.

Well, this little setup should do the trick. He hiked the stepladder on his shoulder and trudged along the narrow path to the main trail. He slowed as he stepped onto the gravel. The people who lived higher up the mountain—behind barbed wire fencing nonetheless—drove up the steep incline in their truck. Deacon didn’t think his SUV would make it. The high-end model strained and chugged to reach his cabin. Clearly his expensive black SUV was designed for sport and utility on flatter surfaces.

He glanced right and listened. No cars, no engines. Just silence.

He shuddered.

No, this is why you’re here. Slow down, the doc said. You’re going to give yourself a heart attack or high blood pressure.

Whatever.

He turned left and shuffled his feet down the hill. The path zigzagged back and forth which was the only way a car would have been able to drive the steep incline. Every ten feet or so, he checked the reception. He thought he had enough power on the transmitter to make it to his cabin, but didn’t want to get all the way there and realize his phone and the camera couldn’t communicate over the distance.

The signal remained strong. The camera was motion activated. With the extra battery pack, he hoped the power would last for several days.

Later that night, while he sat on the porch, his phone pinged, indicating the camera has switched on.

He flipped over to the screen and prepared to snap a freeze frame of the image. Recording video took too much battery life.

His gasp echoed in the quiet spring night.

A brown bear—a huge brown bear—walked through the low brush into the clearing.

Awed and terrified simultaneously, Deacon kept himself immobile, watching. WTF? The real estate agent assured him very little wildlife lived in the area and none of it dangerous. A few squirrels, he said. That is one huge fucking squirrel.

The bear stopped in the low grass. Deacon held his breath. It didn’t matter the clearing was out of sight, some two hundred yards away...the beast was amazing. And terrifying.

He held his finger over the freeze frame button—hoping to catch the perfect angle—but the bear moved.

It didn’t walk away. It stood up on its hind legs and...changed. The fur faded away and the body shrunk down to a still quite large human male.

Deacon yelped and flinched and the phone flew from his hands, smacking the cabin wall hard and dropping to the wooden deck.

One of the impacts tapped the volume button. The familiar sounds of wind through the trees, leaves rustling against the camera fluttered through the speaker. He jumped out his chair and snatched the phone back up, positive he would see a normal bear standing in the clearing.

The newly cracked screen made it harder to see but fuck, no. Still human. Still naked. Holy shit!

The big man with a bushy beard and fuzzy brown hair rolled his shoulders and twisted his neck, ridding himself of invisible kinks. He finished with a deep scratch into the shaggy beard.

Breath locked in Deacon’s throat. He knew that man, uh, bear—which to be honest he qualified for the title in either form. They hadn’t met but Deacon had seen him. He lived at the end of the road with Caleb. Crap, what was his name? Caleb had mentioned it when he’d pointed out his friend working in the distance.

Deacon had checked him out and dismissed him. Not Deacon’s type. Too tall—almost six-five—and that hair, bushy and wild. A stereotypical mountain man. The beard didn’t help, hanging midway to the guy’s chest.

Deacon liked his lovers smaller and submissive. Which was the main crux. Despite his own moderate size, he was a hard-core top and neither Caleb nor his burly friend gave off the willing-to-go-ass-up vibe. Not that Deacon was looking. This cabin was supposed to be his hideaway, not his hook up spot.

He blinked and stared at the screen, waiting for the image to change again.

No. The guy stood in the clearing, naked as a jaybird.

Okay, so he’s a nudist but he probably, definitely, didn’t turn from a bear into a man.

Definitely.

And with an ass like that, why wouldn’t he walk naked everywhere. Damn.

The word settled into his brain and he told himself he’d fallen asleep. That had to be it. He’d fallen asleep and the dream had lingered while he woke. That’s it. That’s a good explana—

A wolf trotted into the same clearing.

The first man didn’t move. He crossed his arms and stared down the canine.

Oh shit. The wolf changed too, its body growing, fur receding until a man—Caleb—knelt on the ground. He stood and brushed dirt off his knees.

Anything? Caleb demanded, his voice ringing through the tinny microphone of the camera.

He’s running around but keeping to the edges of our territory.

An invisible band tightened around Deacon’s throat. Who...?

I don’t like it, the bear announced.

I don’t either but I’m not ready to hunt him down just yet. Let’s let him get comfortable with us. We’ll keep a close eye on the pups and make sure they’re never alone.

Deacon couldn’t see his face but he saw him nod.

You ready to head home?

Caleb shook his head. I’m going to make a run. Check on the new guy down the hill.

You worried about him?

Naw, just like to keep an eye on things.

The other man grunted but didn’t speak.

Deacon jerked back and flung himself out of the chair. He dropped onto the deck—heart pounding, air moving in and out of his lungs in short pants.

He’s coming here. He’s...

Brain working overtime, he lunged into the cabin, slammed the door behind him and leaned against the back side.

His mind jumped into high gear, making a plan. First, he had to get out of there without running into Caleb. Second, figure out what to do about the fact he owned a cabin a couple miles away from a compound full of monsters.

Chapter One

Deacon propped the phone receiver against his cheek, letting the little shit on the other end of the line paint himself into a profit-loss corner. Deacon had discovered the guy was using inferior materials. While that might be a way to save money, it was going to bite them in the ass. This resort was going to be glamorous. Elegant. Nothing shoddy or cheap. His investment in this project ran deep and he refused to let some pissant contractor ruin the deal.

The cell phone beside his keyboard vibrated and he peered at the unfamiliar number. This was his private cellphone. Who the hell has this number?

It couldn’t be Quincy. After Quincy had lost his phone in the river—and Deacon had never quite gotten that full story but it sounded suspicious—Deacon had programmed the new number into his phone.

He ignored the call and let the man talk, explain, plead. Finally Deacon shut him up. The contractor would remove all the cut-rate materials—all of them—and replace them with the products quoted in the bid. And he would meet his original deadline. Oh, and no additional payments until all the work had been done.

The guy snarled but Deacon had a reputation for being ruthless when someone screwed him. Taking a bit too much satisfaction, Deacon slammed the receiver into the cradle and sat, pulling up the spreadsheet for the project.

He lost himself in adjusting actual costs. He’d make his money back later when all those rich spoiled guests came through the doors.

It wasn’t until he picked up his phone, intending to get some work done on the drive home, that he remembered the unfamiliar number. Strolling down the hall toward the elevator—the building almost empty at nine-thirty at night—he taped the voicemail button and listened.

Deacon! It’s been days, babe. Quincy. He didn’t sound drunk. He sounded...happy. Strange. Not that Quincy being happy was that weird but lately he’d been more biting and cranky. Until the trip the cabin. Deacon’s stomach dropped. Fuck, he had to get his friend out of there. He’d been so busy with this project and the other seven he had lined up. Listen, this is my new phone number.

I thought you just got a new phone? he said aloud as he climbed in the elevator.

The other one—too hard to explain. I’ll tell you the whole story later. It’s complicated.

The way Quincy said the word complicated made the tiny hairs at the base of his spine stand up. Quincy didn’t do complicated, except relationships. How the hell had he found a man in the backwoods of the mountains?

Reality slammed into him.

Quincy. On the mountain, with that thing.

No, no, no. He jabbed the button for the parking level over and over. It wouldn’t make his ride any faster but damn it, he had to climb in his car, drive to the cabin and fucking rescue his best friend.

* * * * *

Phin’s stomach rumbled as he stepped into the house. Unidentifiable food scents filled the entryway. Bacon? Ham? He sniffed again. Eggs? He couldn’t quite distinguish the individual smells but whatever it was, it wasn’t burnt.