Shiftr: Swipe Left for Love (Adaira) BBW Bear Shifter Romance (Hope Valley BBW online dating app romances Book 6) by Ariana Hawkes Page A
Authors: Ariana Hawkes
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harshly than he’d intended.
“I thought he was you!”
“What? But why would you think that?”
“Your photos on Shiftr are quite similar, even though you look different in the flesh. He came and met me as I was getting near to your place. Nothing he said made me think he wasn’t you. I was surprised when he led me off the track instead of us walking to the end of it, as you’d described earlier, but I assumed there was another way there or something. The last thought in my mind was that someone might be impersonating you. And he took my backpack. After that, I pretty much had to follow him.”
“I saw that,” he said. Her eyes flashed.
“What? You saw him abduct me, and you didn’t come after me?”
“I – I just thought you’d decided to go with that wolf instead.”
“But I was coming to see you . You really though I’d be that fickle?” He hung his head.
“I didn’t know what to think. I’m not very experienced with the ways of women.”
“Ways of women?” she repeated, and threw her head back, giving in to a gale of laughter.
“I guess that sounds kind of dumb, doesn’t it?” he said, feeling his cheek warming. She shot him a sideways glance.
“No, it sounds kind of cute, I guess.” Relief flooded Leigh’s body. She hadn’t decided to be with the wolf instead of him. She hadn’t abandoned him. His bear purred, and he fought back the impulse to jump for joy. She’s your mate. Take her; claim her for your own, his bear kept insisting.
“What happened after he took you to his lair?” he asked abruptly, trying to cover his embarrassment at having judged her so wrongly.
“He left me in there, saying he needed to go out hunting for food, and I decided to take a shower, because I felt dirty after my hike, you know? But as he was leaving, I saw him as a wolf, and then, of course, I realized that he wasn’t you. I freaked and tried to get out of the cabin, but it was locked. When he came back, I told him I was going to leave. I had a plan to try to make it through the woods and back onto the track to come and see you.” He shuddered, only imagining how lost she could’ve got out there by herself, not knowing the woods, and lacking a shifter’s instinct for direction. “He said I wasn’t leaving, and he was going to keep me there until I accepted him as my mate. Like that was ever going to happen!” she finished, eyes flaming. Leigh’s stomach flipped, sickened at the thought that that lowdown wolf could’ve forced her to be with him. “And then he started making these pervy comments about not being able to wait forever, so I realized that I had to get out as soon as I could. He locked me in again while he went to attend to some business, and I saw an opportunity in the bathroom window, and I took it.”
“That was so brave, Adaira,” he said, his voice full of admiration for the incredible woman she was. She shrugged.
“What else could I do? But then I twisted my ankle. At that point I realized that I was totally at his mercy,” she said, her voice full of disgust. “I managed to drag myself under the cabin, not that it was much of a hiding place. I knew it might be risky to blow my whistle, but I had to try everything I could. And you heard me, right?”
“I heard the whistle, loud and clear, yes. But before that, I heard you scream,” he said, his voice very soft.
“You heard me – all that way? How is that possible?”
“Sometimes shifters are able to hear sounds beyond the spectrum of their hearing, in very special circumstances,” he said, not adding that those circumstances were when they were hearing their mate calling out to them. “So, of course, when I heard you, I started running.”
“I thought the whistle would either bring the wolves running, or hurt their ears, and luckily it seemed to be the latter. I was so petrified that they were going to come and drag me out from the cabin, but the first furry body I saw was yours,” she said with a
“I thought he was you!”
“What? But why would you think that?”
“Your photos on Shiftr are quite similar, even though you look different in the flesh. He came and met me as I was getting near to your place. Nothing he said made me think he wasn’t you. I was surprised when he led me off the track instead of us walking to the end of it, as you’d described earlier, but I assumed there was another way there or something. The last thought in my mind was that someone might be impersonating you. And he took my backpack. After that, I pretty much had to follow him.”
“I saw that,” he said. Her eyes flashed.
“What? You saw him abduct me, and you didn’t come after me?”
“I – I just thought you’d decided to go with that wolf instead.”
“But I was coming to see you . You really though I’d be that fickle?” He hung his head.
“I didn’t know what to think. I’m not very experienced with the ways of women.”
“Ways of women?” she repeated, and threw her head back, giving in to a gale of laughter.
“I guess that sounds kind of dumb, doesn’t it?” he said, feeling his cheek warming. She shot him a sideways glance.
“No, it sounds kind of cute, I guess.” Relief flooded Leigh’s body. She hadn’t decided to be with the wolf instead of him. She hadn’t abandoned him. His bear purred, and he fought back the impulse to jump for joy. She’s your mate. Take her; claim her for your own, his bear kept insisting.
“What happened after he took you to his lair?” he asked abruptly, trying to cover his embarrassment at having judged her so wrongly.
“He left me in there, saying he needed to go out hunting for food, and I decided to take a shower, because I felt dirty after my hike, you know? But as he was leaving, I saw him as a wolf, and then, of course, I realized that he wasn’t you. I freaked and tried to get out of the cabin, but it was locked. When he came back, I told him I was going to leave. I had a plan to try to make it through the woods and back onto the track to come and see you.” He shuddered, only imagining how lost she could’ve got out there by herself, not knowing the woods, and lacking a shifter’s instinct for direction. “He said I wasn’t leaving, and he was going to keep me there until I accepted him as my mate. Like that was ever going to happen!” she finished, eyes flaming. Leigh’s stomach flipped, sickened at the thought that that lowdown wolf could’ve forced her to be with him. “And then he started making these pervy comments about not being able to wait forever, so I realized that I had to get out as soon as I could. He locked me in again while he went to attend to some business, and I saw an opportunity in the bathroom window, and I took it.”
“That was so brave, Adaira,” he said, his voice full of admiration for the incredible woman she was. She shrugged.
“What else could I do? But then I twisted my ankle. At that point I realized that I was totally at his mercy,” she said, her voice full of disgust. “I managed to drag myself under the cabin, not that it was much of a hiding place. I knew it might be risky to blow my whistle, but I had to try everything I could. And you heard me, right?”
“I heard the whistle, loud and clear, yes. But before that, I heard you scream,” he said, his voice very soft.
“You heard me – all that way? How is that possible?”
“Sometimes shifters are able to hear sounds beyond the spectrum of their hearing, in very special circumstances,” he said, not adding that those circumstances were when they were hearing their mate calling out to them. “So, of course, when I heard you, I started running.”
“I thought the whistle would either bring the wolves running, or hurt their ears, and luckily it seemed to be the latter. I was so petrified that they were going to come and drag me out from the cabin, but the first furry body I saw was yours,” she said with a
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