Baddest Bear Dad: A Fated Mate Romance Read online

  “I’m okay.”

  Standing up, she grabbed his face and pulled him down to her level, uncaring of the blood smeared on her arms and clothing. It was over. It was finally over.

  “This has undoubtedly been the worst night of my life,” she stated. “Yet, I somehow also feel stronger because of it. As if I’ve realized some things about myself that I never knew I possessed.”

  “Like a streak of crazy a mile long?” he queried, shaking his head at her. “Seriously, what the hell were you thinking coming in here?”

  “I was thinking that I needed to be here. To do something to help you. My entire body, mind, soul, whatever you want to call it, was telling me that. And look, I came here, and I helped end the fight. You wouldn’t have gotten him so easily if I hadn’t focused his attention on me.”

  “That’s one hell of a gamble.” His voice was stern.

  “I know. I didn’t want it to be quite that…hair-raising. And if it’s all the same to you my love, I’ll be perfectly fine if I don’t get kidnapped ever again.”

  “You and me both,” he growled.

  Then his eyes shot toward the opening. In it stood Gray and Kelly, the latter now walking on her own feet instead of being carried.

  “Let’s get out of here,” she said, taking his hand and pulling him toward them.

  “Gray,” Braden said as they got closer. “We need to go. The embassy. They need us.”

  Gray shook his head.

  “What? What are you talking about?” she asked.

  Elle listened with growing horror as they told her about the battle at the embassy, and how the other shifters had acted as a distraction so that they could come to the school and end it all.

  “Oh no,” she breathed, remembering the way Gray had shook his head when Braden suggested they go back to help out.

  “They’re okay,” Gray reassured her. “Andrew’s help arrived in time, it would seem. But we’re going to need that.” He lifted his chin behind them, toward where the corpse lay, hidden mostly out of sight behind the bleachers.

  “Why?” she asked, confused.

  “As proof.” Braden looked to Gray for confirmation. The elder shifted nodded. “That’s the head of an organization from back in Cadia,” he said while Gray went to grab the body, leaving Kelly in her care.

  “I see.” She didn’t.

  “If we can’t prove that he’s dead, then our allies back home can’t replace him with one of our own. It’s complicated, but with him dead, most of the troubles anyone here in Cloud Lake has been having should evaporate. Because the king, who is an ally of ours, can appoint the replacement, instead of the Council, who is much more divided.”

  “And I thought human politics were complicated,” she muttered as the shifter returned, the dead person casually slung over his shoulder. “Well, back to the embassy then!”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Braden

  The sight that greeted them as they returned to the embassy was stunning. The entire street in front of it was completely destroyed. Shopfronts, sidewalks, light posts, it was all a complete write-off.

  “This is going to be an expensive fix,” he remarked as they neared a group of shifters awaiting them.

  “Don’t worry about that,” a tall nondescript man with brown hair cropped close to his head replied. “I’ll be handling that.”

  Braden nodded. “Okay. Sure. And you are?”

  Andrew stepped forward with uncharacteristic grace and propriety. “Your Majesty, may I introduce Braden Fields, one of my finest guards.” The ambassador swept an arm toward him.

  He froze. “Your Majesty?” he said tightly. His voice didn’t quite squeak.

  Elle’s elbow hit one of his bruised ribs. “I think that means you’re supposed to bow,” she hissed from where she was curtsying next to him.

  Braden coughed and doubled over at the waist. “Ah, Your Majesty. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

  The tall man chuckled. “Stand up already. Dammit, Andrew, you know I hate that whole routine.”

  “Yeah, but tell me it wasn’t funny,” the ambassador said, laughing heartily.

  Braden glared at his boss, but the look just slid off.

  “Daxxton Ryker,” the man said, sticking out his hand.

  He took it, not bothering to go for a strength of grip contest, instead just making sure it was firm and respectful. After all, this was the King of Cadia he was shaking hands with. He deserved Braden’s respect.

  After making introductions of his party, the king introduced someone else. He swore he’d seen the tall platinum-blonde before, perhaps in his training days at the Green Bearets Base Camp back in Cadia itself. He wasn’t sure, but she was familiar.

  “May I introduce you to Ava Holmgren, late a colonel of the RAF.”

  Braden had to force himself not to whistle. The Ragin’ Air Fillies were the warrior arm of the Pegasus race. Composed entirely of females—males were allowed to try out, but in centuries none of them had ever made it—they were known as the most badass of the badass. Nobody messed with the RAF. Not even the dragons if they could avoid it. To have been a colonel, one of the highest ranks, meant that the woman was one serious person. Not someone to mess with lightly.

  Or at all. But I wonder why he said “late” of the RAF? Did she get kicked out? And why is she here?

  “Ah, Armen,” Daxxton said as Gray set the body down on the front steps of the embassy. “What a waste of a mind. Brilliant, but unfortunately possessed of less-than-stellar scruples, as I’m sure you are all well aware.” The king nodded once. “Well, I now have the proof I needed to do this.”

  “Do what?” Ava asked.

  Braden wanted to say the same thing, but he sensed this conversation was happening several levels above his paygrade, so he wisely remained silent and let the others do the talking.

  “Ava Holmgren, as your king I hereby nominate you to the position of Director of Cadian Intelligence, effective immediately.”

  Everyone’s jaw dropped open, including Ava’s.

  “WHAT?” she bellowed, turning to confront the king. “This is what you got me discharged from the RAF for?”

  Braden tried not to laugh at the weak smile on the king’s face. He clearly hadn’t expected such a reaction from her.

  “I need someone I can trust in the position,” he said. “Besides, one of your first tasks will be to investigate this new territory that your mate claims to be from. So, quit bitching, and realize that you’ve just been given quite the honor. You’re the first woman and Pegasus to hold this position.”

  Braden was really glad he wasn’t on the former-colonel’s bad side right now. Daxxton was lucky he was a dragon, and therefore unthreatened by the woman. There was a very good reason after all, why they were called the Ragin’ Air Fillies. All of them were getting a taste of that right this very second.

  “You and I are going to have words,” she hissed.

  “Speak all you want,” he said dryly. “You know you’re going to accept, both because you want to, and because I need you to.”

  The Pegasus shifter seemed to deflate as Daxxton spoke those words, conceding his point through body language alone.

  “Let’s go inside, shall we?” Andrew said. “The others are waiting.

  “Sir,” Braden said, speaking up as they walked. “Nobody has told us. How…how did we do?”

  Andrew turned and bestowed him with a smile. “We won. About thirty seconds after you decided to do some remodeling across the street, these two showed up. It wasn’t much of a fight after that. I think the two of you had it worse.”

  Braden nodded, but next to him Elle turned to see what Andrew was referring to. “Wait. There’s a huge hole in the building.”

  “Yes there is,” he replied noncommittally.

  “Are you telling me that you made that hole?”

  “Uh, depends, how angry are you going to be about it?”

  “You went through an entire building to come get me?
” she asked incredulously.

  He shrugged. “It was faster.”

  “But you went through it. Like, right through the wall. Simply to get to me faster?”

  Braden nodded.

  “Oh, you are so hot right now.”

  “It was three buildings actually,” Gray chimed in from off to the side. “I know, I went through them too.”

  “Three?” she asked in a subdued voice, her eyes never leaving him.

  He nodded again, feeling sheepish. Elle grinned, and he watched as she spoke with her lips, but no sound.

  I am going to fuck you so hard tonight.

  “Do you need us for anything else, boss? Or can we go get cleaned up?” he asked, looking past her at Andrew.

  Beside him Gray coughed loudly and echoed the question by pointing at himself and Kelly too.

  Braden frowned, until he leaned back slightly and saw Kelly’s hand was no longer around Gray’s waist, but was grabbing his butt. Hard.

  He grinned.

  “Yes, of course. Go wash yourselves off. You look like a bunch of ghosts.”

  The quartet dashed for the stairs. Braden picked Elle up into his arms, not wanting to wait any longer.

  “I love you,” he rumbled as he took the stairs four at a time, not bothering to slow.

  “I love you as well, Braden Fields.” She looked him straight in the eye.

  “My mate.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Elle

  “See, this isn’t so bad, is it?”

  “What’s not so bad?” He looked over at her, motioning for her to lift her end a little more.

  Elle brought the metal bar up. He consulted his level, nodded, and made some marks on the wall on his end, motioning for her to do the same. That done, she stepped down from her little stepstool that he’d built.

  “Building a life together here,” she said.

  “No, it’s not too bad,” he admitted. “Though I never really envisioned mated life to involve hanging curtains together.”

  She laughed. “You said they looked okay though!”

  “They do, they do! I wasn’t saying anything about the curtains themselves. I just…I didn’t think that this was something that would form a lasting memory when I first realized how important you are to me. You know?”

  “What, decorating our first house together isn’t something you saw yourself doing?”

  He shrugged. “I mean, the house I had back home was already decorated.”

  “So what did you see us doing?” She glared. “And if you say fucking or screwing or anything like that, you can count out getting any for the rest of the day.”

  “Okay.” He punctuated his word with a snort. Braden was pretty positive now that Elle was used to a regular sex life with him that she would be hard-pressed to go half a day without fooling around. Not that he was going to test that theory of course. “I don’t know. I didn’t really think about it, I guess.”

  “I see. Are you sure you’re okay with the fact that you sold it all and bought a place here?”

  He hesitated, wanting to ensure that the answer he gave was the truth, and not just a placating answer that she wanted to hear.

  “I am,” he said. “It’s still…new, like I’m still getting used to it all, and the concept of living outside of Cadia just simply never existed in my brain until I came to Cloud Lake, so it all kind of goes against everything I’ve known. But I’m adjusting, and there’s one thing I do know.”

  “What’s that?” she asked, coming up to stand next to him, recognizing that the conversation had turned serious.

  “That I would much rather be with you, wherever that might lead us, rather than back in Cadia on my own.”

  She leaned in to him, taking his free hand and lifting it so she could kiss the back of it.

  “I love you, Braden Fields,” she whispered, resting her chin on his shoulder as she looked up at him.

  “And I love you, Elle Mirrine. You are my love, my mate, the other half of my soul. I would do anything for you.”

  She smiled and they kissed gently, letting the moment linger on as long as possible.

  “Anything?” she asked mischievously.

  “What do you mean?”

  She laughed and ran into another room, and returned with something in her arms.

  “No!” he shouted. “No no no. I said we’re not having any of those in the house.”

  Elle pouted. “But I love them! They’re so soft. Look, Gwen likes them.”

  She waved the frilly pillows in front of her daughter, who was watching them from her seat in the corner, safely out of the way. She giggled and clapped her hands together excitedly.

  “That’s not fair.” He grimaced as she stuck out one of the shaggy-style pillows, the hair-like material hanging from them looking so out of place.

  “Ugh, you already bought these didn’t you?”

  She nodded. “Yep.”

  “They’re hideous,” he complained, feeling the stray fibers that dangled off it, not bothering to hide the disgust on his face.

  “They’re fashionable and I like them.”

  He frowned. “Which means we’re keeping them, doesn’t it?”

  Elle grinned. “You are a quick learner!” She leaned forward and he obliged her with a kiss before shaking his head while she went and distributed them on the couches in their living room.

  Their living room. Not his. Not hers. But theirs. Together. It had been a whirlwind two weeks since the dust had settled from the fallout of their fight with Armen and his Intelligence goons. Between helping to fix all the damage done to the town, both near the embassy and at the school, he’d been working nonstop. Today was his first day off, and he’d spent it helping Elle unpack stuff into their new home, which they’d only taken possession of four days earlier. The furniture company had arrived yesterday and unloaded everything, but they were still figuring out just how they liked it all.

  Braden hadn’t realized just how thankful he was to have Elle around. She’d spent her days organizing all the planning for their new house, and had helped him liaise with a seller back in Cadia to have someone buy his place there. Braden had thought about keeping it for a while, but in the end he’d realized a sort of profound truth, something his new friends had also concluded: They weren’t going back.

  Cadia was still their homeland, where they’d been born and raised. But it was no longer their home. They lived in Cloud Lake now, and they loved it there. It was their home, and they were all making lives for themselves amongst it, thrilled at the new chapter that was starting in their lives.

  With the replacement of Armen as head of Cadian Intelligence, the shadows of their little community in northern Cloud Lake had been cast off, and they were all finally free to live their lives the way they wished. King Daxxton had issued a proclamation revoking the law that had prevented them from living outside of Cadia. Now, as long as they obeyed human law, they could live wherever they wished.

  The Koche brothers had been preparing for this eventuality it seemed, and they’d offered one of several houses they had prepared to sell to incoming shifters to him and Elle. They’d snatched up their favorite of the four. She was eager to get out of the little unit she currently lived in, while he was just excited to start a life together.

  He still got thrills in his chest when he walked in the door and told her that he was home. There weren’t many ways that life could be any better, and Elle had told him that exact same thing in the morning before he left.

  Most people would have been happy to hear that. For Braden however, he’d seen it as a challenge. Oh, her life can’t get any better, can it?

  We’ll see about that!

  His phone buzzed.

  Here. Where do you want them?

  Backyard, on the porch. Will they sit?

  There was a short delay, then he received a picture indicating that they could, indeed, sit on the porch. Excellent.

  “Hey, Elle?”

  “Y
es, my love?” she asked, half-jumping over to him, allowing him to lift her off the ground and into his arms. “Wheee!”

  He laughed and planted a big fat wet kiss on her face, causing her to giggle and struggle to get away.

  “No slobber!” she laughed.

  “No? None at all?’ he asked, carrying her toward the back door.

  “Nope. No slobber. I hate it, that’s nasty.”

  “Hmmm. Well, that could be an issue.”

  She arched her eyebrows. “Is this where I find out you have a drooling problem?”

  Braden laughed so hard he nearly dropped her. “No!” he shouted. “Not even close. Not me at least.”

  Elle blinked in confusion. “What?”

  He held tight with one hand and opened the door outside. “I’m fine. But you might have an issue with these two.”

  She slid out from his arms and turned to look where he was facing.

  “Oh my God,” she cried out, sliding to her knees as the two collies sat perfectly on either side of Noah, tails wagging almost in sync. “Are they for me?”

  “Um. They’re for us,” he corrected, stepping back inside to grab Gwen up into his arms, holding her tightly. It would take a bit for her to acclimate to the dogs, and vice versa. But the test run when he’d snuck her out of the house three days earlier to go see the dogs before buying them had gone over well.

  “Come here,” she said, motioning to the dogs. They immediately leapt up from their sitting position and dashed across the seven or so feet to greet her. “Ahhh!” she said happily, going down into a pile of limbs and dogs.

  “Thank you,” he said to Noah, adjusting Gwen so into one arm so he could shake his friend’s hand as he walked over, the two of them watching the dogs go crazy from the attention Elle was lavishing on them.

  “Not a problem. They’re quite well-behaved.”

  “What are their names?” she asked through slobbery kisses and belly rubs.

  “Shadow and Midnight,” he told her. “I think you can figure out which one is which.”

  One was black, the other gray. It was fairly obvious.

  “Oh my God, this day is just so amazing. Fluffy pillows and puppies!”