Bears of Burden: STERLING Read online

  Table of Contents

  Bears of Burden

  STERLING

  STORY DESCRIPTION

  CHAPTER 1: Ophelia

  CHAPTER 2: Sterling

  CHAPTER 3: Ophelia

  CHAPTER 4: Sterling

  CHAPTER 5: Ophelia

  CHAPTER 6: Ophelia

  CHAPTER 7: Sterling

  CHAPTER 8: Ophelia

  CHAPTER 9: Sterling

  CHAPTER 10: Ophelia

  CHAPTER 11: Sterling

  CHAPTER 12: Ophelia

  CHAPTER 13: Sterling

  CHAPTER 14: Ophelia

  CHAPTER 15: Sterling

  CHAPTER 16: Ophelia

  CHAPTER 17: Ophelia

  CHAPTER 18: Ophelia

  CHAPTER 19: Sterling

  CHAPTER 20: Sterling

  CHAPTER 21: Ophelia

  CHAPTER 22: Sterling

  CHAPTER 23: Ophelia

  CHAPTER 24: Sterling

  CHAPTER 25: Ophelia

  CHAPTER 26: Sterling

  ENJOY A FREE SNEAK PEEK

  KODIAK ISLAND SHIFTERS

  COLTON: BILLIONAIRE BEAR’S BRIDE

  Chapter one

  Chapter two

  Chapter three

  Chapter four

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  WEREBEAR’S MAIL ORDER MATE

  STORY DESCRIPTION

  Chapter one

  Chapter two

  Chapter three

  Chapter four

  Chapter five

  Chapter six

  Chapter seven

  Chapter eight

  Chapter nine

  Chapter ten

  Chapter eleven

  Chapter twelve

  Chapter thirteen

  Chapter fourteen

  Chapter fifteen

  Chapter sixteen

  Chapter seventeen

  Chapter eighteen

  Chapter nineteen

  Epilogue

  MATING THE ALPHA

  STORY DESCRIPTION

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  PUCKED

  STORY DESCRIPTION

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  HOLDING

  STORY DESCRIPTION

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  TIGHT

  STORY DESCRIPTION

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  NATHAN: BILLIONAIRE BEAR

  STORY DESCRIPTION

  Chapter one

  Chapter two

  Chapter three

  Chapter four

  Chapter five

  Chapter six

  Chapter seven

  Chapter eight

  Chapter nine

  Chapter ten

  Chapter eleven

  Chapter twelve

  Chapter thirteen

  Chapter fourteen

  Chapter fifteen

  Chapter sixteen

  Chapter seventeen

  ZAREK

  Dragons of Plarizakian

  STORY DESCRIPTION

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  OFFICER BEAR

  STORY DESCRIPTION

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  LOVING THE ALPHA

  STORY DESCRIPTION

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  CHAPTER 17

  CHAPTER 18

  CHAPTER 19

  EPILOGUE

  HAUNTED WHISPERS

  STORY DESCRIPTION

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  CHAPTER 17

  EPILOGUE

  HONOR

  STORY DESCRIPTION

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  BEAR’S (mail order) BRIDE

  STORY DESCRIPTION

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Copyright © 2017 by Candace Ayers.

  All Rights Reserved.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and inc
idents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

  This book is intended for adult readers only.

  Any sexual activity portrayed in these pages occurs between consenting adults over the age of 18 who are not related by blood.

  Bears of Burden

  STERLING

  By Candace Ayers

  Note from the Author:

  I am currently recruiting readers for my review team. If you would like to participate by volunteering to read advance copies of my latest books, and leaving an honest review on Amazon, please sign up for my email list here: JOIN NOW! I contact subscribers through email when each book is ready for review. You will be under no obligation, and can accept or decline on a book by book basis.

  ~ Candace

  STORY DESCRIPTION

  Sterling Mallory likes fast—fast cars and faster women, anything to keep the ghosts at bay. Living life on the edge catches up to him when he carelessly makes an enemy of Kyle Barns. Who knew that Kyle’s younger sister would turn out to be Sterling’s mate? Now, she hates him.

  Ophelia Barns left her flourishing journalism career in Nashville to come back home to Burden, Texas. Her brother has always been her rock, and now it’s her turn to be there for him. When someone crosses him, they cross her.

  When Ophelia is forced to interview Sterling for the local Burden Gazette, despite the fact that they don’t have an easy time dealing with each other, the attraction is so intense that they might each be willing to make some sacrifices.

  CHAPTER 1: Ophelia

  Big and furry, I clumsily stumbled through the parking lot and away from the back door of the bar with one foot stuck in a bucket. My bear grumbled and toppled sideways landing in a pile of leaves. Leaves and twigs stuck to my fur. I tried to sit up, but the massiveness of my midsection fought against the action. Tumbling to the side, I rolled onto all fours and forced myself to stand up on my back legs. Just because I was a bear didn’t mean I had to be undignified. Well, actually, I was beyond dignified at this point, really.

  I tossed one look back at the bar and shook my head. Yeah, I was way past displaying any semblance of dignity. I jerked my stupid stalker head away from the door where I’d been listening, and tried to watch where I was going as I stepped over logs and mudpuddles. It’d been raining for days and everything was soaked. I wasn’t a fan of mud. As human woman and female bear, I didn’t like having to clean mud from all my cracks and crevices.

  I came to the swollen creek and roared. I didn’t want to get wet. Frustrated at myself for my obsession that had driven me to the bar in the first place, I cupped my big head in my hands and rolled my neck back gazing skyward. Why couldn’t I just let him go?

  One way or another, I needed to get my big furry butt home, so I scanned the creek and spotted a few rocks farther along down the river bank. If I could step from one to the other, I might be able to leap the last bit of distance. That way, I could stay dry.

  I was a complete basket case. Certifiable. There was no other way to view it. Take today, for instance. I’d been minding my own business heading home from work, what little work I had, when I caught his scent around the bar. I knew what he was doing inside there. I knew it, and the thoughts fueled my anger, which threw me into an uncontrolled shift, shredding my clothes in the process. Now, instead of being able to walk home along the sidewalks like any normal woman, I had to cross the creek as a bumbling idiot bear, hoping I could maintain enough balance to keep myself from falling in the creek and getting soaked.

  I held my arms out to the side and snorted out a rough breath. I stuck my bucketed foot out and grunted. That wouldn’t do. I stuck my other foot out and stepped on the rock. Gingerly putting my weight on it, I wanted to roar a cheer. I wasn’t going to get wet!

  Luck disagreed. My weight pushed the rock into the mud and the motion startled me. I lunged forward, trying to catch myself on the next rock, but the slipperiness of the water along the moss-covered rock sent me sliding into the cold creek. Water swallowed my growl as I went under and was swept downstream in the swift moving creek.

  I didn’t even know if creek was the right word for the damned thing, anymore. It was so swollen from all the rain that it was more like a river. I came up sputtering, my clawed, furry mitts slapping at the water in frustration. I found my footing and stood up, looking around to make sure no one was watching the shit show that had become my life.

  How had I sunk so low? I used to have it together. Now, here I am stalking men, stepping in buckets while stalking men, falling in rivers with a bucket on my foot while stalking men, and trying to make it home as the clumsiest, most awkward bear in existence. Hell, until coming back to Burden, my most embarrassing moment had been the time I interviewed a popular country singer while unknowingly sporting a milk mustache on my upper lip. Once upon a time, I had my shit together.

  I waded to the other side and dug my paws into the bank to try to heave my oversized body out of the water. I ended up basically rolling in the mud. I stood up and kicked my leg out to shake the bucket loose. When it didn’t budge, I roared loud enough to empty the nearby trees of any and all wildlife.

  I would have shifted back to my human self, but I didn’t want to risk getting caught so far from home naked. That would be slightly worse than roaming around the woods as a frickin’ bear. Slightly.

  I shook off as best as I could and lumbered homeward. After a few steps, I stumbled and caught myself on a sapling, taking it down. I plopped on my butt next to the broken thing and snorted at it. I’d killed a growing tree. I considered just staying there, until I looked up and noticed a bee hive in the distance. I groaned even as my bear took over, rolled to its feet and hurried towards it.

  As human Ophelia, I knew better than to mess with bees. Bear Ophelia didn’t care that human Ophelia knew better and was struggling for control. I tried to fight the urge that drove me towards the hive. I was allergic. Not terribly, but enough to swell up painfully and look like a total alien freak show. I had very little practice controlling my bear, though, so she ignored me.

  One big paw swipe took the bottom of the hive right off. Honey leaked out and along with it, swarms of bees. They attacked, as I swatted and growled, finally giving up the honey, before dropping to all fours and running back to the creek as fast as my thunderous legs could move. I did a nose dive, and let the cold water sooth the stinging.

  My bear grumbled angrily at being deprived of honey as I muttered to myself about the curse of being a bear shifter. I climbed back out when the bees were gone and stomped the rest of the way home. There was some tripping and another roll in the mud, but I finally made it, leaving a dripping trail of muddy water behind me.

  Kyle’s truck wasn’t in the driveway, so I shifted back to human right outside of the backdoor and finally shook the bucket off my foot before I let myself in. Kyle never locked his door. No one in Burden, Texas ever did. It was slightly unnerving to me after having lived in a big city for so long.

  I resisted the urge to inspect the perimeter to make sure no one had broken in before tracking mud and leaves all the way up to my bedroom. It was the same bedroom I’d had as a girl growing up in good ol’ Burden. From birth to the fragile age of seventeen, I’d made a sanctuary inside these four Pepto-Bismol pink walls.

  I slammed the bedroom door behind me and headed to the adjoining bathroom. Climbing into the shower, I scrubbed myself until my skin was raw. Bee stings marred my olive complexion, and I could barely see out of my swollen eyelids by the time I turned the water off.

  I avoided the mirror when I got out and dried off. I slipped into underwear and a nightgown that was from my youth. It looked more like a granny nightdress than something a twenty-eight-year-old savvy, independent woman would wear, but I had no one to impress. Ever.

  Taking the stairs carefully, I made my way to the kitchen and dug around the medicine drawer until I found
Benadryl. I popped three before retreating to the living room to watch an episode of My 600lb Life.

  I was asleep before the introduction finished playing. Nightmares of my mate flirting with other women plagued me and I woke up later that night, as a 600lb bear, on top of the severely bent couch frame.

  CHAPTER 2: Sterling

  “Sweetheart, I will rock your world.” I flashed the pretty blonde in front of me one of my signature cocky grins, and once again bit back the growl my bear tried to release. My bear didn’t like this at all. Now that we’d found our mate, his instinct was to frighten away any woman I tried to callously and rudely flirt with. I’d be inclined to do the same if it weren’t for the fact that nameless, faceless women were the only thing that filled the gaping hole in the center of my chest. And only temporarily at that.

  “Aren’t you sure of yourself?” Her face scrunched up like she smelled something bad and she took a step back, away from me.

  “You’re not gonna walk away from the best thing to ever happen to you, are you?” Inwardly, I cringed. Maybe I’d start to dig a little deeper into my arsenal of cheap pick-up lines.

  Her eyes rolled practically to the back of her head and away she went.

  I retreated to the table and sat down next to my older brother, Hutch, and our buddies. Three of them were recently mated. Only Sam and I remained single, and once Sam found his mate, it would be me. Alone. I would be the last single bear in our close-knit group of shifters, of that I was sure, because I’d already found my mate. She hated me.

  “Ouch, that looked painful, bro.” Sam grinned at me and cupped me on the shoulder. “I’m going to have a go at her.”

  I watched him saunter off and tried to keep my face neutral. The impression I was going for was the goofy, slightly moronic, happy-go-lucky younger brother of Hutch. I was keeping up a pretty good act. Still hitting on women, still pretending to leave with them, still acting like a jackass. I was fooling everyone—except Hutch.

  Hutch looked up from his beer and shook his head. “What are you doing?”

  I chugged my beer and stood up. “Boys, I’ve had my fair share of striking out tonight. I think I’m going to take a dip in the creek and head home.”

  Wyatt stood up. “I’ll join you. Maybe, by the time I do that and head home, Georgia will be home.”

  Thorn’s eyes were on his mate while she worked the bar. “I think it’s time Allie’s shift ended.”

  Hutch finished his beer and grinned. “I think it’s time I fetched Veronica from her meeting. She should be done with her dirty book sharing by now, which means good things for me tonight.”