Jacob

By Becca Fanning

Cara saw her prey from across the arena. The early morning rays of sunshine sliced through the grandstand seats, casting crosscut shadows across the rodeo field. Many hours from now, men and women would tempt fate as they rode for glory and fame. But Cara didn't care about that. She only cared about the man on the other side of the empty arena and the burning need she'd felt for him these past five years. Jacob Tyrell, you will be mine
Jacob liked getting to know his horse before he rode it. Early in the mornings, while the rest of the world was still sleeping, that's when he got the best work done. You didn't want to get onto a horse you haven't spent time with. Jacob brushed the horse's flank, watching how it reacted to him. A scent drifted into his nose, carrying on a light breeze. Something familiar. Something from his past. Or more like someone from his past.
This 13,000+ word BBW Bear Shifter Romance Novella contains all the heat and passion you expect from a Fated Mates story!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gizmo Media
• Release date: May 23, 2021

Book preview

Fanning

Chapter 1

She saw him from across the arena.

First day of the rodeo in Las Vegas, Nevada. The weather was perfect, dry and hot. The opening ceremony fireworks the night before had been perfect. She'd lost all the weight she'd wanted to lose before the rodeo started.

And now, across the enormous modern arena from Cara, was Jacob Tyrell. Of the Tyrell clan of bull riders, bronc busters, rodeo superstars – and shifters.

She was looking at a bear. Dressed as a man. Wearing a man's skin. He was working with one of the horses. Dawn had barely broken, the day only just beginning to heat.

Cara melted back into the shadows. She stood in one of the chutes that led the bulls out when the rodeo was in full swing.

There was almost no one else in the stables. Probably no one else in the arena. This time of year sunrise happened before 5:30 and it was still dark out.

Cara moved cautiously. Inside the arena was shadowy and dark. One or two dim lights stayed on overnight but for the most part everything was shadows. She didn't want to trip. She definitely didn't want to fall into anything left behind by the behind of an animal.

She wasn't ready to call attention to herself.

Her alarm had gone off at three a.m.. That gave her time to tease her strawberry blond curls into a messy, romantic upsweep and put on the perfect makeup. Design the perfect outfit. She didn't want to splatter that with horse muck. She didn't want to run into one of the homeless men who hung out near the arena during the day with their cardboard signs. They had to sleep somewhere. Probably harmless, the majority of them, but no sense taking chances.

Really she didn't see any of those men. Or anybody else. There weren't even security guards. The arena was empty, smelling pleasantly of hay and horses and desert morning air. The majority of rodeo personnel were probably still sleeping off a drunk. Some might even still be in the midst of last night's drunk.

There were only a handful of people obsessed enough to be there before hours if they weren't paid to be. A percentage of those people ghosted through the darkness outside the arena, working the horses, mucking out the stables, and doing all the ranch hand chores that someone else was definitely paid to do in Ray Chaudett's rodeo circuit.

Because they loved it. Jacob Tyrell was here because he loved it.

Cara was there because she loved Jacob Tyrell. And didn't know what to do about it.

You're stalking him, her roommate Karen had said. They shared a ratty apartment on the wrong end of Vegas.

With the best intentions, Cara answered. Doesn't that count for something?

Karen didn't think so. But Cara did. She'd first met Jacob Tyrell five years ago when she was 17. She didn't think he'd remember. At the time he'd been in his early 20s, and Cara had been a star struck girl at her first rodeo. Back then there were only rumors about the family of shapeshifter werebears competing in rodeos across the country.

That day she hadn't cared whether Jacob Tyrell was a shifter or not. He was a better man than the three men who showed up at the same time Cara's great idea – take her dad's best horse and ride to the rodeo – blew up in her face.

The horse had gotten scared by the crowds outside the arena, the crowds that were normal on Vegas city streets. The horse had bolted outside the modern day arena. It carried her only halfway to her father's ranch outside city limits before it threw her and vanished.

Cara wasn't hurt and the