Christmas Catastrophe: BBW Holiday Bear Shifter Romance (Christmas Bear Brothers Book 2) by Harmony Raines Page A

have not hit a dry spell,” Declan ground out. “It is my choice not to date. The same as it is my choice to work at Christmas.”
    “It’s also your choice to be miserable at Christmas,” Damon said. They all needed to lighten up. And a bit of bear-baiting might be the thing to make them all smile.
    “I am not miserable.” Declan got up, drained his beer and then headed for the door.
    “Come on, any minute now the words bah humbug! are going to come out of your mouth as you tell some kid off for being too cheerful in front of you,” Damon said.
    “ Bear humbug ,” Dermot said in his deep, growly voice, making Damon collapse with laughter. They never had learned to act their age around Declan , who was not only the eldest, but the most responsible brother.
    Declan came back towards them, placing one hand on the back of each of their chairs.
    “Thank you for the beer. I am so glad that no matter how miserable I am feeling, I can always count on you two to cheer me up.” Then, with a broad grin, he ruffled both his younger brothers’ hair and growled “Bah humbug” as he left the bar.
    Damon wiped the tears from his eyes. “Damn it, Dermot, we need to find ourselves some women.”
    “I know,” Dermot said, drinking the rest of his beer. “It’s sad that none of us have a family. I wouldn’t even mind being an uncle at Christmas. At least I would have someone to spoil.”
    “Least you have the kids at the hospital to look in on. Now, that has to be tough on a parent,” Damon said. “I don’t know how I would bear having my kid sick.”
    “That reminds me,” Dermot said, “I offered to take one of the kids home. She’s been given the go-ahead to spend the next couple of days at home, and her mom doesn’t have a car. You might remember her, Sorcha, her dad died in that pile-up a couple of months ago.”
    “How could I forget? Now I feel bad moaning about the small things that are missing in our lives.” All three of them had attended the accident, one of the worst they had seen. It had taken Damon days to get the images of wrecked cars and broken bodies out of his mind. He knew that lives had been shattered that day, and his mood became sombre.
    Dermot stood up, stretching his arms and then said, “See you on the other side, Damon. Maybe we can all get together after Christmas. And definitely for New Year’s.”
    “You never know, Dermot, by some Christmas miracle, we might have found our mates by then.” Damon shook off his melancholy mood. To cope with his job, he had learned to acknowledge that a phoenix could always rise from the ashes of disaster, and that life could get better. And although their lives weren’t actually a disaster, they certainly were due for a change: for the better .
    Dermot nodded. “That would take some Christmas magic, Damon. But a man can dream. Have a good one.”
    I intend to , Damon thought, sitting alone for a few minutes to collect his thoughts, then he got up, said goodbye to Penny who worked behind the bar, and left. His shift started in two hours: enough time to get home, shower and change, and collect the secret Santa gift he had brought.
     

Chapter Two – Zara
     
    “Robbie, what are you doing up there?” Zara asked. It was late evening and she was passing the huge Christmas tree that stood in the town square. There had been some debate about decorating it. The town of Cougar Ridge had not experienced the best year in their long history, and there were murmurings that there wasn’t much to celebrate.
    However, when it came to a vote, enough people had wanted the tree decorated and the traditional festivities to take place, and so the tree had been hastily covered in Christmas lights and ornaments. Those decorations had not included her nephew Robbie, who was now over halfway up the tree.
    The boy didn’t stop, moving sure-footedly from one branch to another in a bid to reach the top. What the hell was he doing up there?
    “Robbie, come down. If