Doctor Bear: BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance (Bear Bluff Book 2) by Harmony Raines

Chapter One - Ben
    Ben Hansom rushed towards the maternity unit of Bear Bluff Hospital. He had been called in specially because Freyja McCormac was about to give birth to her baby. Usually a midwife would handle everything if it were a normal birth. However, this wasn’t normal. Freyja was next in line to be leader of the Bear Bluff Clan; so when her baby arrived, it would be second in line and one day take over from its mother.
    He never felt nervous, because he was very good at his job. As one of the doctors in Bear Creek and a bear shifter himself, he was often called upon to treat his fellow townsfolk with a furry secret. Everyone liked him: he was friendly, kind and, oh, how could he forget, the most handsome thing on two legs.
    “Hi, Dr. Ben,” the receptionist called as he made his way in.
    “Hi, Greta. How are you today?”
    “Great,” she said, coming around her desk and getting very close to the good doctor.
    “Is there anything I can do for you?” He always asked and then usually regretted it.
    “Well,” she simpered. “I do have a lump on my knee. Do you think you could have a look at it?” Then Greta lifted the hem of her skirt to show Dr. Ben her impossibly long legs.
    He looked, knowing there would be no lump, but he only explored the area with his eyes; to touch would be to send her into a frenzy of palpations. Ben knew exactly the reaction he got from women and he tried to avoid it wherever possible. For no other reason than it embarrassed him—or perhaps it was because it embarrassed the women who fell at his feet, they just didn’t see it.
    “I can’t see anything wrong with your knee, Greta,” Ben said, wincing when he realised he had said the wrong thing.
    “I am so pleased to hear that,” Greta said, dropping her hem but moving closer. “I always thought my legs were my best feature.”
    “They … they ar … are.” He was just making this worse. His problem was that he couldn’t simply be rude. This meant his admirers thought he was encouraging them. He wasn’t. He really, truly wasn’t. Sighing, he decided that the best thing to do was to extricate himself from Greta and run to the delivery suite. “If you are still concerned, why don’t you make an appointment with your doctor? I have to get to Freyja.”
    With that, he ran down the hallway, sounds of Greta swooning invading his ears. He needed to find his mate, because then all of this would end. All he wanted to do was settle down and raise a family, but being cursed with good looks meant he was a magnet for every single woman in Bear Bluff, a thing that had stopped being fun years ago.
    He slowed to a more professional pace, walking quickly, smiling, but not in the way that would encourage anyone else to ask him to look at their body parts. He needed to see Freyja. In through the maternity unit doors; he had to stop to hold them open for a couple with a newborn baby. Or should he say cub , because they were a bonded couple. He was safe here, at least; they only had eyes for each other. The doctor’s eyes were drawn to the small bundle in the proud father’s arms: now, that was what Ben wished for. A family.
    “Congratulations, beautiful baby, you’re very lucky.”
    “Thanks, Ben. I hear Freyja is in labour.”
    “Yes, she is, our future chief is about to be born. Must dash. Congratulations again.”
    “Come out with us to wet the baby’s head,” the father shouted.
    “Will do, if I’m free. Thanks for the invitation.” Ben walked through the maternity unit, heading for the reception desk to find out where Freyja and her husband, Will, were. All seemed quiet, so he guessed everything was going well, but he wanted to be here anyway. He owed it to the Clan chief, Stuart McCormac.
    “Hi, Ben,” said Daphne. The receptionist beamed at him, but she was like an old aunt to Ben; he knew her smile was out of a different kind of affection than the other ladies of Bear Bluff. “Freyja was brought in by Will about