Chapter 1
The word ‘werebear’ was so stupid.
Seriously. How could something so genuinely terrifying sound so completely ridiculous?
Werewolves? Spooky. Horrific. The kind of word that sent shivers down your spine. Considering Nessa Parker had found herself on the wrong end of such a creature a little over two months ago, she knew just how deadly they could be. There was a reason they were portrayed so often in horror films.
But werebears?
Lame.
Things that rhymed sounded infinitely less scary than things that didn’t.
A small smile danced on Nessa’s lips at the thought. Just as quickly, however, her smile faded, and an image flashed throughher mind of a massive wolf standing over her broken and bleeding body, sharp, white teeth dripping crimson.
Her blood ran cold.
The beast lunged for her—
Nessa’s heart skipped a beat, and her breath caught in her throat as she flinched. She squeezed her eyes shut, as if that would keep out the memories threatening to overwhelm her. Even her shoulder throbbed, the scars that had recently healed a damning reminder of that night—
Stop thinking about it. It’s over. You’re fine. Jason is dead. He can’t hurt you.
Gripping the towel wrapped around her body tightly, she slowly forced herself to relax, one muscle at a time. Standing in the hallway just outside of her bedroom, she focused on the breathing exercises she’d learned online a few years ago, letting out a long, slow exhale before dragging in a deep breath.
Expel the negative energy, she reminded herself, exhaling again.Purge it from your body, your mind, your soul.
Several minutes must have passed while she remained rooted in the same spot, but she refused to move until her pulse steadied.
Another minute of breathing slowly passed before she felt ready.
Prying her eyes open, Nessa walked the last few feet of the hall and into her bedroom, glancing warily around the room. She wished she could say that being attacked by a werewolf for defending her pregnant friend, Hunny Russo—who she had later learned was a wererabbit, believe it or not—was the reason for her paranoia. But it wasn’t.
Okay, that was a lie. It wasn’t the reason forallof her paranoia. Lately, justmostof it.
Who could blame her?
Werewolves, werebears,whatever—creatures that went bump in the night shouldn’t exist. Yet, they definitely did. Not only were supernatural beings out there, living among humans and disguising their true nature flawlessly, but she’d stumbled right into their midst.
It would have been hilarious if it wasn’t just another layer of crap piled onto the absolute shitshow that was her life. Didn’t the universe understand that she’d gone through enough over the last few years?
And now, just when Nessa had begun to settle down, when she had finally started to feel like she was safe enough to rebuild her life, to start fresh, she went and got herself mauled by a werewolf.
Three months ago, the only thing she’d worried about was whether her brother and his crew could track her down and drag her back to Chicago.
But now?
Every room she entered held a new, potential threat–a supernatural creature that could be lurking in the corner or hiding in the shadows, just waiting to pounce on her when she least expected it.
Nessa scowled down at her feet as a new thought intruded. Did werebears pounce?
She frowned, fed up with her train of thought. She constantly had werebears on the brain. Well, maybe not bears. It was specifically a hot, tall—and kind of an asshole—werebear.
Don’t open that door,she scolded herself. But it was too late; that door had been kicked down months ago, and she was fooling herself to think otherwise.
Murphy Sinclair was always on Nessa’s mind, which was weird, because the man—bear?—couldn’t stand her. Not that she could stand himeither, a sentiment she’d felt before she knew about his Alpha or shifter status.
Once upon a time, she’d been drawn to powerful men. And an Alpha was apparently top dog—bear—whatever–among the shifter community.
