Bound To Her Bear (Bear Bluff Clan 1) by Harmony Raines

Chapter One - Eirik
    Eirik walked out of the meeting with the council and stood looking longingly at the mountains surrounding Bear Bluff. He had so much to do, so many of his father’s old papers to go over. He hated that so much scrutiny had been put onto the affairs of the man who’d raised him. However, after his father had signed the sacred lands of Bear Bluff over to a bear from Bear Creek, his judgement had been called into question.
    Even though everything had been resolved and there had been no foundation in fact to the claim on the land. It had left the council shaken and his father’s memory tarnished.
    “You, my old friend, need to let your fur down,” a voice said behind him. A well-meaning arm went around his shoulders and led him towards the trail, which wound its way up into the mountains.
    “I have so much to do, Ben,” Eirik answered wistfully.
    “Doctor’s orders,” Ben grinned wickedly at Eirik. “Seriously, if anyone thinks you are shirking off, then I will tell them I prescribed it. You look too stressed out to work. Take a break, come run with me.” He looked at his watch. “I don’t have a patient for another hour. It will do us both good.”
    “What, you have to get away from all the women in Bear Bluff trying to come on to you?”
    “If you had this face, you wouldn’t laugh. I cannot exactly tell all the human women that I am waiting for my true mate. I think that would make them worse. Think they could somehow tame me into loving them.”
    Eirik laughed. “Don’t expect me to feel sorry for you, Ben.”
    “At least I’ve made you laugh, Eirik. You have been so caught up in this business with your father, you have forgotten that there is more to life.”
    “I’m afraid I don’t have the same problem as you. No women chase me. I don’t have your boyish charm and good looks.”
    “I didn’t mean females. I meant the mountain. She will be our mistress for the next hour.”
    “You missed your calling in life, Ben. You should have been an actor with all that drama.”
    “I already have women falling at my feet. I don’t need any more.”
    Eirik stood for a moment and breathed in the scent of the heather on the lower slopes. He loved this time of year. Summer was just giving away to autumn, the leaves would soon begin to turn, and he would miss it all if he didn’t leave Bear Bluff.
    “OK. I have to put these papers away first.”
    “I’ll come with you,” said Ben.
    “I can manage; it’s not as though I am going to get mugged for them.”
    “Ahh, but you will. By your conscience. You will go into your office, place the papers on your desk, and then think that you should just look them over before going out. Before you know it, dusk will fall and you will think you should go and visit your mom.”
    Eirik laughed again and shook his head. “I was wrong; you should be a mind reader instead. Come on.”
     

Chapter Two - Drew
    She watched the two men walk away laughing. It had been a long time since she had felt any happiness. Her life was a series of dramas linked together. If it wasn’t her job, it was the washing machine breaking down or some other disaster. And threaded through all this, was the constant worry about her father and his drinking.
    Slipping out from behind the library, where she had hidden from the doctor and Eirik, she ran across to the track leading up onto the mountain. There really wasn’t time in her hectic day to let herself run free, but she owed it to herself. Or more precisely, if she didn’t allow herself some freedom, she would go insane.
    As she climbed the first part of the trail, she breathed in the freedom of this moment. Ever since her mom had died, her dad had been so consumed with loss that he had hit the bottle and never found the bottom. She gingerly touched her eyebrow, feeling the slight swelling and soreness there. Her father’s temper, brought on by grief, got the better of him all the time. It had gotten him fired, meaning