Polar Bear's Heart

  Wild, Montana 3

  Polar Bear’s Heart

  Shea is a waitress at the Wild Animal Diner. She’s one of the few humans living in Wild that know about the existence of shifters. She has a lot of responsibilities and isn’t looking for a man. Then Logan walks into the diner, takes one sniff of her and calls her his. Then after an explosive meeting he leaves town. Is he coming back? Does she want him to? She isn’t so sure.

  Logan is a polar bear shifter that happened to be told about Wild a few months ago by a breeding female he pointed back toward her destiny. He decides to see what the town has to offer. What he finds is his mate, but then he has to leave town. He has responsibilities of his own and is kept away longer than he intends.

  Will Logan and Shea become a happily mated couple with surprises from them both and a danger stalking them as they try to work out the difficulties of their merged lives? Or will there be something that keeps them from each other? Or someone?

  Genre: Contemporary, Paranormal, Shape-shifter

  Length: 23,032 words

  POLAR BEAR’S HEART

  Wild, Montana 3

  Jasmine Alexander

  EROTIC ROMANCE

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  ABOUT THE E-BOOK YOU HAVE PURCHASED: Your non-refundable purchase of this e-book allows you to only ONE LEGAL copy for your own personal reading on your own personal computer or device. You do not have resell or distribution rights without the prior written permission of both the publisher and the copyright owner of this book. This book cannot be copied in any format, sold, or otherwise transferred from your computer to another through upload to a file sharing peer to peer program, for free or for a fee, or as a prize in any contest. Such action is illegal and in violation of the U.S. Copyright Law. Distribution of this e-book, in whole or in part, online, offline, in print or in any way or any other method currently known or yet to be invented, is forbidden. If you do not want this book anymore, you must delete it from your computer.

  WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

  If you find a Siren-BookStrand e-book being sold or shared illegally, please let us know at

  legal@sirenbookstrand.com

  A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK

  IMPRINT: Erotic Romance

  POLAR BEAR’S HEART

  Copyright © 2014 by Jasmine Alexander

  E-book ISBN: 978-1-63258-514-1

  First E-book Publication: October 2014

  Cover design by Harris Channing

  All art and logo copyright © 2014 by Siren Publishing, Inc.

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.

  All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

  PUBLISHER

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  Letter to Readers

  Dear Readers,

  If you have purchased this copy of Polar Bear’s Heart by Jasmine Alexander from BookStrand.com or its official distributors, thank you. Also, thank you for not sharing your copy of this book.

  Regarding E-book Piracy

  This book is copyrighted intellectual property. No other individual or group has resale rights, auction rights, membership rights, sharing rights, or any kind of rights to sell or to give away a copy of this book.

  The author and the publisher work very hard to bring our paying readers high-quality reading entertainment.

  This is Jasmine Alexander’s livelihood. It’s fair and simple. Please respect Jasmine Alexander’s right to earn a living from her work.

  Amanda Hilton, Publisher

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  www.BookStrand.com

  DEDICATION

  To everyone who has helped me to continue learning as a writer.

  To the readers, without you none of this is possible. Thank you for enjoying the worlds I create as much as I do.

  Love,

  Jasmine

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  About the Author

  POLAR BEAR’S HEART

  Wild, Montana 3

  JASMINE ALEXANDER

  Copyright © 2014

  Chapter 1

  Shea finished wiping down the table in the Wild Animal Diner and breathed a sigh of relief. She was exhausted. It was only eleven o’clock at night, but it seemed over the last few weeks that her energy was draining more and more. All she wanted to do was go home, take a shower, and crawl into bed. But she knew it would still be a while before that was possible. She took the rag back to the cleaning area and left it with the other laundry that the manager and owner, Mike, would deal with. She went and retrieved her purse from the back room and waited for Joe, the cook, to join her.

  Joe was a nice guy. He always made sure that when she left there was someone to walk her to her car or down the street to her house.

  “You ready?” Joe asked as he walked toward the back door where Shea was standing.

  “Yes. Thanks,” Shea replied, and Joe nodded his head. The badger shifter was a quiet man but kind. He was about five foot eight with black hair with white on the sides. He was stocky and somewhat muscular, and Shea thought that he was quite handsome. He had nice, light brown eyes, and he never raised his voice. She liked that about him. He didn’t intimidate her like many of the shifters in Wild.

  Tonight Shea had walked to work, but by the chill in the air she knew that she would soon have to start driving again. Wild, Montana was a nice place to live, but she had to admit that it got downright cold sometimes. It was only September, but the first snow would most likely fall by the second week in October, and the cold would be right there, ready to take over the beautiful green that surrounded Wild.

  They walked in silence until they reached the white picket gate to her home. Before going through the gate and into the house, Shea turned to Joe.

  “Thank you for walking me,” Shea said in a quiet, kind voice.

  “You are always welcome,” Joe said and met her eyes. He hesitated to say whatever he was thinking, so Shea prodded him on.

  “Is there something else, Joe?” She waited for his response. He hesitated a moment longer, until saying what was on his mind.

  “Yes. Shea, you know that if you ever need any help, I’m here for you, right?” His words didn’t surprise her. That was just the kind of man Joe was. She knew that he was aware of her situation, and that he was being nice, but she didn’t want to take advantage of the man, either. She smiled kindly at him.

  “Thank you very much, Joe. I am very lucky to have you in my life.” She turned and walked through the gate and back into her life. She wouldn’t change anything, but there were times when it was very hard to know what to do.

  The fact that Shea knew her mate would be coming for her soon didn’t calm her. Whenever she thought of him, her heartbeat quickened, and she got uncomfortably turned on. She also felt the fear of her past come up and try to strangle
her, but she kept it at bay. It wasn’t as if it was her mate’s fault that he was so big, but she wasn’t sure she could handle him.

  Shea said goodbye to her neighbor, Mrs. Carmichael, who had been watching over the most precious thing in her world and went upstairs. The house was not huge, but it suited her needs for now. She knew that in the next few years, she would either have to build on, which there was plenty of room for, or move into a larger place. The house had dark hardwood floors and charming molding that endeared it to Shea’s heart.

  As she reached the top of the stairs, she turned left and stopped at the door at the end of the hall. She had perfected being quiet over the past three years with Hudson in the house, so she didn’t make a sound as she opened the door.

  Shea smiled when she saw him sprawled out on his bed with his head hanging off one side and his feet the other. No matter how many times a night Shea put him back on the bed, he ended up sideways again. She still went over and put him on the bed properly, but didn’t bother to cover him up. He would throw the covers off in an instant, and his body needed the colder temperature. Shea wasn’t sure how his body was going to change in the next few months, and even over the next few years, but she thought that he was going to like and maybe need the cold more as his bear grew.

  Shea thought of the fact that the mate she discovered three months before was a polar bear, and wondered what the future held. She was afraid of the size of her mate, but she wasn’t sure that she could deny him when he came back. She was going to need help with Hudson, especially because his bear was getting bigger and bigger, and Hudson didn’t seem to be able to control his shift as much.

  Shea left Hudson’s door open and walked to the other end of the short hallway and past the stairs to her room. She immediately went into the bathroom and started the shower. As she showered, she let her thoughts drift back to the past.

  Shea had been terrified when she had shown up at a hospital in the middle of Wyoming to see her sister. Her sister had been lying in a hospital bed, broken, bruised, and near death, when Shea had arrived. Anna had always been the most wonderful sister to her, and it pained her still to think of the brutal way she had died. Anna had pulled Shea to her and whispered her most precious secret in her ear. She had a son. He had been born a month before and was being hidden by a very nice older woman in rural Colorado.

  Shea hadn’t known what to say until Anna had explained the rest. That shifters existed, and that Hudson’s father was one. Anna had thought she had met the man of her dreams when she had found Darius. It had turned out that the polar bear shifter had a big temper and was very possessive. When Anna had started to fear for her safety, she fled with her son still in her stomach.

  Once Hudson had been born, Darius had been getting closer and closer to finding them, so Anna had led him away from their son. Anna was in a motel in Wyoming when Darius found her. He tortured her for the information on his son’s whereabouts, but Anna told him nothing. When she was so close to death that Darius couldn’t smell the lie on her, she told him that she had taken the child to Canada.

  Darius left Anna for dead, and the hospital called Shea. Her sister begged her to take care of Hudson and told her where to go. Anna had told her that Wild, Montana was a shifter town where she would have help raising a shifter and would be protected. Shea had stayed next to Anna for the next hour after that, until her body gave out from all the trauma.

  Shea had made her way to Colorado and picked up her nephew and gone straight to Wild. When she had arrived, she found a job at the diner and the house, and she settled in. Hudson had been so cute as a baby, with spikey white hair, and, instead of arctic blue eyes, he had her and her sister’s bright green eyes. When he shifted, his eyes turned a paler green, and he was the cutest ball of fur. The first time he shifted it had scared her. But she soon realized he was much tougher in bear form than human and that he still listened, so she didn’t worry that he might run off into the woods.

  Shea put on pajamas and crawled into bed for a good night’s sleep. Her world was about Hudson, and now she had to consider what to do about the mate that had shown up and the energy-draining gift he had given her. She never saw the man that had followed her progress home or how he sat in the woods behind her house watching for most of the night.

  Chapter 2

  Logan walked up to Caleb’s clan house and knocked on the door. This wasn’t the first place he wanted to go when getting back to Wild, but he knew that it was necessary. He wanted to go straight to his mate and soak in her scent, before spending three or four days doing nothing but having sex. His bear was more than ready to claim their mate again, and he could feel his restlessness. He hadn’t meant to be gone for three months, but in order to settle down with his mate, he had to finish a few things in his life. Owen, one of the clan’s betas, answered the door.

  “Hey, man. Wasn’t sure we’d see you again.” Owen opened the door to allow him in. Owen took a breath and looked down at the little girl holding tight to Logan’s hand. Owen’s eyes widened, and he looked back up at Logan.

  Sasha made a little noise beside him, so he picked her up and held her close. Logan walked into the house and over to the living room. The house was quiet for some reason, but Logan just waited for Owen to start the questions.

  “I didn’t know you had a kid,” Owen said, asking a question without asking.

  “This is Sasha. Sasha, this is Owen.” Logan introduced the two. Sasha looked at Owen so long that the wolf started to get flustered. Then Sasha slid down from Logan’s arms and walked over to Owen. The five-year-old looked up at Owen and waved her hand at him for him to come down to her level.

  Owen looked up at Logan in question, and Logan just smirked at him. Owen knelt in front of Sasha.

  “Hello,” was all that he said. Sasha put one hand on each of Owen’s cheeks and looked into his eyes. Up until then, Sasha had looked very serious. She smiled beautifully at him and kissed his cheek without letting go.

  “I like you. You’re nice, and you’re going to be so much fun when the babies come.” Then she walked into him and hugged him, causing Owen to have to pick her up. Owen stood and looked at Logan. Logan laughed.

  “You should be flattered. You passed the ultimate test, as far as I’m concerned. Sasha knows who is to be trusted, and who is not,” was all Logan said for an explanation.

  “What about the comment about babies?” Owen asked. Logan could tell that the subject unnerved the wolf some and didn’t want to tell him anything that he wasn’t ready to hear.

  “I’m psychotic,” Sasha piped in from Owen’s arms, and Logan laughed.

  “She means psychic. Sasha has a gift, and when she meets new people, sometimes it comes out quickly. It’s nothing you should worry about. Sasha and I have had many talks about saying things to people that she sees, and that it isn’t always appropriate.” The last was directed to the girl, and Sasha realized that.

  “Sorry, daddy. I didn’t mean to.” Sasha didn’t always have control over her visions, and she was only five, so Logan wasn’t worried about it, but he still tried to help her learn to control it as best she could.

  “It’s all right, kitten. I know you didn’t mean to.” Logan caught his daughter as she launched herself from Owen’s arms into his. The wolf paled at the move, and Logan laughed. “Don’t sweat it Owen. She’s a cat, after all. She leaps all the time, but still manages to land on her feet. So, where is everyone?” Logan took a seat with Sasha on his lap, and Owen sat across from them.

  “They should be here any time. Caleb and Eira took the twins out to the woods to get used to the scents around the place. They keep shifting in their crib and climbing out, so Caleb suggested taking them out to work off some energy.” As Owen finished, the back door opened and the alpha female of the clan walked in.

  Eira was small, but anyone who ever thought that made her an easy mark was quickly shown the error of their ways. She turned and looked at Logan on the couch, and walked over with a smil
e. That was one thing that Logan liked about her. She could be ruthless when her family or friends were in trouble, but she was welcoming to anyone who earned it.

  “Logan, hi.” Then she surprised Logan by holding out her arms and catching a leaping Sasha. “Sasha! I’m so excited that you’re here.” The two hugged like old friends, but Logan knew they had never met before. Logan continued to watch the play between the females.

  “I’m here to get a mommy and a brother and…” Sasha stopped and looked back at Logan.

  “It’s all right. You don’t need to say any more right now. I know what’s going to happen, but that doesn’t mean that they need to know just yet.” Eira soothed the girl and kissed her head. Before Logan could ask what they were discussing, two little balls of fur came busting in through the open back door. Suddenly, right behind them, was a massive lion.

  “Caleb Gray, don’t you dare sink your claws into my wood floor!” Eira barked out, causing the lion to halt and try not to damage the floor. The two kits collapsed, panting on the floor in front of their mother. She sat down on the floor, and Sasha shifted and began rolling around with the lion kits.

  “Wow, she’s a pretty little kitten,” Owen said, as he looked at the little lynx playing with the lions. Sasha had dark hair in contrast to Logan’s white blond, but they weren’t blood related, so they didn’t look like each other. When shifted, Sasha had black and grey stripes.

  Eira stayed on the floor, playing with the kits, and Caleb walked over and put his head in her lap, still in lion form. Logan watched them together, and it made him eager to get to his mate. Logan wanted to be a family like this, but he figured it was going to take a lot of work. He was sure his mate was going to be upset at him for being gone for three months. Not to mention he was just going to show up at her door with Sasha and himself. He had no doubt that his kind, soft-spoken mate would be happy to have Sasha and treat her as her own. He wasn’t so sure she would want anything to do with him. Especially when he remembered the way he had introduced himself at the back of the diner and everything that had followed.