Her Bear to Hold

By DJ Bryce

Mika has wanted Trinity from afar since they were in school together. She was quiet, delicate, and sweet, which always brought out his protective side. An early shifter, Mika always felt like a large, bumbling, awkward bear in her presence, so he never worked up the courage to make his move. Trinity followed her dreams after high school and went to Los Angeles to pursue her a career in dance. Raised by a single mother with no idea who her father was, Trinity was shocked, confused, and terrified, when in her late twenties she found out she was a snow leopard shifter. Needing comfort, familiarity, and a place to roam safely, she decided to return home to Spring Creek. Mika knows interspecies mating is illegal, but when Trinity returns home, their pull is too great, and he decides she’s worth the risk. What starts out as chemistry, quickly turns to more, and Mika realizes that Trinity has always been his mate. Snow leopard or not, all Mika knows is that he wants to be with her for the rest of his life. The question is, can he convince Drake, his clan, and the town, that there shouldn’t be laws dictating who he can love, or will he and Trinity have to leave everything, and everyone they love, behind? Her Bear to Hold is a STANDALONE in the Her Bear Series. It contains a sweet, yet independent heroine, a large brooding bear shifter, and sex in all the right places.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bethany Lopez
• Release date: May 23, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005432799

DJ Bryce

Author DJ Bryce loves her men tall, dark, and Alpha. She can often be found relaxing with a cup of coffee, a handful of RedVines, and a good book, with her two dogs snoozing happily at her feet.She's a lover of The Walking Dead, Romantic Comedies, and writing sexy shifters.DJ Bryce is a pen name for USA Today Bestselling author, Bethany Lopez.

Book preview

Trinity

She’d never felt so content, and so alone…

Trinity sat on the bar stool, nursing her third Lemon Drop Martini, and enjoying the warm glow that the drinks had afforded her.

She’d opened her dance studio today. She was now, officially, a business owner, and instructor to twelve adorable little girls and one boy.

She’d also closed on a new condo. It was only a one-bedroom, but it sat high on a cliff overlooking the forest. Trinity had never thought much about the location of her home, but when she’d driven with the realtor up the mountain and had taken in the view from her prospective living room window, she’d fallen instantly in love.

It was home.

Considering the fact that she now owned a home and a business, Trinity knew she should be ecstatic. Over the moon happy with where she was in her life, but she wasn’t.

She couldn’t be.

A little over a year ago, while she was living in LA, Trinity had shifted for the first time at the ripe old age of twenty-seven. She’d never even known she had the shifter gene, so it was easy to imagine the terror she’d experienced when her body had begun to shift and change.

Needing to be somewhere safe and familiar, Trinity had returned home to Spring Creek, Montana, to be close to her mother, and to have the room to allow her snow leopard to roam free. First, she’d needed to gain asylum from the Chief of the local Bear Clan, Drake.

Being the only snow leopard in a town full of bears was just another reason she was lonely. Add to that the fact that her mother had been slightly fearful upon learning she’d been impregnated by a leopard, and was now mother to one, and well, that just added to the feelings of uncertainty and isolation that had Trinity celebrating alone in a bar, rather than out with friends.

Would you like another? the handsome bartender asked, pulling Trinity out of her depressing thoughts.

Um, yeah, one more, Trinity said, knowing she should probably settle her bill, but not quite ready to go back to the apartment she was renting until her condo was ready.

Trinity felt a tingle when the bartender looked back over his shoulder and gave her a sexy smile as he turned to grab the contents of her drink.

It was January, which, according to all of the research she’d done on snow leopard shifters since finding out she was one, meant her mating season was just beginning. Which was just her luck, since she was single and had no prospects for the evening, other than the handy vibrator she kept in the drawer by her bed.

Funny how much more in tune she was with her leopard now, now that she’d been afforded the opportunity to really get to know the animal within her. Drake had given her free reign of a plot of land that the bears of his clan didn’t utilize, so Trinity was able to let her animal run free, which had only served in bringing that part of her even closer to the surface.

She could feel the difference. The way her pulse seemed to throb in her ears, and her nerve endings seemed to be dancing just below the surface of her skin. She was a live wire, eager to let loose with a man and mate on a primal level.

If the bartender kept looking at her like that, she just might have to take him up on his offer.

Trinity’s skin tingled, and her blood warmed as he placed the drink in front of her, and when a hand brushed the hair off the back of her neck, she almost purred in response.

Turning, her held tilted back, she looked to see who’d touched her. She was surprised and even more aroused at the sight of Mika behind her.

Dark skinned, with long dark hair and a well-trimmed beard, Mika was a massive bear shifter whom she’d known since she was a little girl. He’d always been quiet and somewhat brooding as a teen, and when she’d come back to town, she’d been shocked at how big he’d become. Six foot six, if he was an inch, with the strongest, most defined shoulders and biceps she’d ever seen.

Just looking at him made her salivate in response.

He hadn’t said much to her when she’d first arrived, instead acting just as strange and broody as always, and he’d disappeared soon after.

Apparently, he was not only a police sergeant, but a tracker for the precinct as well as his clan, and he’d been out on a job for the past few months.

Seeing him now, Trinity realized she was happy he was back, at the same time aware that his hand was still cupping the back of her neck, and the look in his dark eyes caused desire to pool in her belly.

Hey, she said in greeting, her voice coming out husky. Trinity’s tongue darted out to moisten her suddenly dry lips, causing Mika’s face to darken as his gaze tracked her movement.

You done? he asked, nodding his head toward her full glass.

Without sparing the bar another glance, Trinity dropped forty dollars on