Bourbon and Bears: Book Three: Shifters and Sins Read online

  Bourbon and Bears

  Book Three: Shifters and Sins

  Cecilia Lane

  A BAD Alpha Dads & Shifting Destinies Novella

  Copyright © 2019 by Cecilia Lane

  Cover Art by CT Cover Creations

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Bourbon and Bears: Shifters and Sins #3 by Cecilia Lane October 2019

  Contents

  Bourbon and Bears

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Epilogue

  Shifters of Bear’s Den

  Black Claw Ranch

  Newsletter

  BAD Alpha Dads

  About the Author

  Also by Cecilia Lane

  Bourbon and Bears: Shifters and sins Book Three

  A woman with a baby and a whole lot of trouble, a bad boy shifter trying to pull his life together, and enemies that will do anything to keep them apart.

  Maylee Henderson's got a busted car, a fussing baby, and an angry bear hot on her heels. She's at the end of her rope until she stumbles into Ellis's bar and learns that there's a difference between brute force and dominance. Ellis is clearly trouble, and he knows how to throw a punch, but his strength is a tool of protection, not fear, and he's nothing like the violent men in her old clan.

  Semi-reformed big bad wolf Ellis Hays has been burned before, but one look at Maylee has him pushing aside his own rules at the same time he's throwing the bear shifter chasing her out on his ass.

  Ellis isn't looking for a mate, but he's entranced by the curve of Maylee's hips and the challenge in her eyes. Problem is, she's got secrets of her own, and Ellis isn't sure he's ready to trust a stranger.

  A hunted woman can't have a mate, and Maylee is still convinced that mating isn't for her. It doesn't matter that Ellis makes her shiver with want and dream of a possible future she's seen fall to ruin too many times to count.

  When the past comes calling, Maylee will need to make a choice. Can she really ask her newfound pack to stand beside her against her family? Or is running again the only option to protect Ellis's pack… and herself?

  Bourbon and Bears is part of the steamy paranormal romance BAD Alpha Dads collection, third in the gritty Shifters and Sins series. Download now for a semi-reformed bad boy who will fight off his mate's enemies and change the baby's diapers, a couple who learn to trust despite vicious pasts, and discover that family is so much more than blood.

  * * *

  Bestselling and Award Winning Paranormal Romance authors are bringing you the baddest of the bad ALPHA dads. Keyword bad. So sexy, you’ll want to teach them to be good. These shifter dads need all the help they can get, and we want to give it to them.

  https://BADALPHADADS.com

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  http://cecilialane.com/cecilianews

  Chapter 1

  “Hey, Sheila, darling, get us another, will ya?” a bear shifter yelled over the buzzing bar activity.

  Ellis Hays glared at the loudmouth group of men and women in the corner. They’d taken over a pair of pool tables early in the night. He hated them. And not because they were bear shifters. He didn’t buy into that one-true-shifter garbage some seemed to spout. He’d ripped off enough packs, clans, and prides while riding with a motorcycle club to know everyone and their mother had a story for how supes entered the human world. He didn’t give a shit if they fell through the veil between worlds or popped fully formed out of some old god’s skull.

  “Hey, Vinnie, darling, get it yourself!” Sheila answered with a raised middle finger.

  The rest of the group laughed and offered Vinnie consoling pats on his shoulder while talking shit about his game, pool and dating alike.

  He hated them because they’d been rude motherfuckers from the get-go, and turned worse with every round they threw back.

  Ellis settled back against his spot near the door and swept another look over the rest of the bar. Jensen and Wyatt had their hands full running back and forth to shove drinks to thirsty customers. Dark Horse had quickly become the watering hole for all of Redwater, mostly due to being the only bar in town. Jensen had opened the doors to humans and shifters alike, so the mixing sometimes got a little sticky.

  That was where he came in. Enforcer to the Rawlins pack, bouncer at Dark Horse, he kept the peace when the crowd got too rowdy. Fighting was the one thing he was good at.

  His wolf prowled through him. The beast had been uneasy for months. Hadn’t stopped since the night he split from the Vagabonds and followed Jensen to a new town with new villains to beat into submission. There was a constant pressure in his chest, an urge to get on his bike and surround himself with the cold rush of air on an open stretch of road.

  Riding on and on and on into oblivion sounded like heaven.

  He yanked back on his inner beast’s desires. He’d pledged to Jensen and found a place to call his den. Redwater was his home now. The days of riding from town to town were behind him. He’d made commitments, and he aimed to keep them.

  Not like his brother.

  Not like his old flame, either.

  Ellis rolled his shoulders to cut his discomfort. The past was the past. No use turning over those stones and poking at painful memories.

  Movement caught his eye. Barely shifting in his spot, he tracked two men as they approached the group. They were young. Human. Twitchy, too, which meant nerves. Nerves that Vinnie and his crew would pick apart.

  They stood to the side while two bears took their shots before stepping closer. One lifted a finger and caught Vinnie’s eye. “Can we get a game in once you’re finished?”

  Vinnie leaned on his pool cue, pursed his lips, and slowly eyed the two up and down. Unimpressed, he jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “Beat it, normie. We’re playing here.”

  The two humans locked eyes before pressing their claim. “You’ve been hogging the tables all night. Let someone else have a turn. You still got a whole other table.”

  “Fuck off, kid. That’s life, ain’t it? Unfair.” Vinnie smirked and Sheila let off a loud cackle.

  Ellis rolled his shoulders. Fuck, they were just as mean and aggressive as his old pack. The Vagabonds were dead and gone, but he knew when a fight was about to break open. He could feel the electricity flowing over his skin like lightning striking too close.

  Time to put in the work.

  Ellis pushed off the wall and locked on to his targets. Heavy steps carried him through the crowd that parted for him. “We got a pr
oblem here?” he asked.

  Vinnie’s eyes traveled up and up until they reached Ellis’s face. Ellis looked down his nose and waited for the reaction. Most people were smart enough to cut their bullshit when they got a load of his size. He was big all around. Taller than anyone else in the bar, and easily wider than them, too. The tats winding up his arms, his thick beard, and all the bad biker charm he could muster shriveled up insults and replaced them with yes, sirs and no, sirs.

  Not Vinnie. Vinnie was an idiot.

  “Yeah. Yeah, I think we do. See, this little shitweasel is trying to take my pool tables. Now, last time I was around this way, his kind wouldn’t have even dared step inside this joint. But here he is, getting his normie face all up in mine.”

  “We’re not that kind of place anymore,” Ellis rumbled. Not since Jensen fought off an entire motorcycle club to keep his mate and pup safe. He’d been in the thick of that, cracking skulls and sending rival wolves running as fast as their paws could carry them.

  His wolf howled for another taste of destruction.

  “Yeah.” Vinnie sniffed, cleared his throat, and spat on the floor. “Real shithole you got here, now. Someone ought to do something about that.”

  Ellis curled his hands into fists. His wolf lunged at the bars of his mind, ready to tear into the threat. The rest of Vinnie’s people fanned out. Their hands tightened around pool cues as they darted dark looks to their leader.

  Bite, rip, fight.

  “That someone going to be you?” Ellis asked in a low voice, threat flashing gold in his eyes.

  Vinnie lifted a lip in a silent snarl. “Maybe it will.”

  The fight started fast and underhanded. One of Vinnie’s bears stabbed him in the back with the pool cue, splintering the wood against his side. The cracked top half clattered to the floor as he twisted around to slam his fist into the attacker’s face.

  Ellis spun back around and caught Vinnie across the jaw. More pool cues jabbed at him and whipped against his arms and back. Each blow loosened the grip he held over his wolf and rattled another growl out of his chest.

  The beast wanted out. The beast wanted blood.

  Somewhere in the background, he heard Wyatt let off a wild laugh. They were utterly different in how they battled. Wyatt was hot, ferocious, unpredictable. Ellis was cold fury who cut mercilessly through his targets.

  Punch. Crack. Squeeze. Break.

  Glass slammed into his head. Blood trickled from a cut above his eye. He drove an elbow into the shoulder of one male and followed up with a sharp kick to the knee of another.

  Then there was silence in the bar.

  In his head, his wolf howled for more. More blood. More loss of control. More, more, more until the world ran red and he could see nothing but that single shade.

  He breathed hard as he whirled to check for any other bodies he needed to put down. The nearest group flinched away under his glare. Others next to them shuffled with their eyes lowered.

  How fucking long had it been since someone could meet his gaze without looking away?

  How long since he deserved to be looked in the eye?

  “Ellis,” Jensen growled.

  The word grabbed him by the balls and yanked his attention around to his alpha. One breath, then another, drove his wolf deep into the back of his mind.

  Jensen was good. Jensen was alpha. He deserved their loyalty. Loyalty from a broken man was still better than none at all.

  Jensen jerked his chin. “Let’s get you cleaned up. In the back.”

  Silently, except for the growl rattling in his head, Ellis stalked through the bar and slammed through the door to the back room. Irritation crackled under his skin and jerked his limbs forward.

  No reason for it. Just another fight in a long list of them. Hell, this one even saved some fragile human skins. That had to count for something, didn’t it?

  So why the fuck did he feel like snapping at everyone in his path?

  He tried to keep his wolf on a short chain. Hated letting his temper get the better of him, which was why his wolf pushed so hard during a fight. Those were the only moments Ellis let the beast loose.

  Those moments proved the lie. He wasn’t steady. He wasn’t okay. There was a monster in his middle that he couldn’t contain.

  Ellis clamped down on his agitation and snapped at his wolf growling in the back of his head. He was fine. Finer than fine. He had a pack. A den. A legit job that didn’t demand he dirty his hands with one crime or another.

  And he still wanted something… more.

  He sprawled into one of the chairs in the makeshift break room—a card table with folding chairs tucked into a corner—and winced as the cheap metal groaned under his sudden weight. That wince turned into another as Wyatt pressed a wad of paper towels to his forehead.

  “Hold this,” the man ordered.

  “Ellis! What happened to you?” Noelle exclaimed.

  Ellis cut off his growl and turned his one good eye to the group strolling through the door.

  Jensen’s mate widened her eyes, but didn’t miss a step. The little human had grown used to seeing the males of the pack bruised up and bloodied since Jensen rode back into her life. Noelle linked hands with her small pup, Sienna, and rested another on her growing stomach. Behind her, Wyatt’s mate and son looked on curiously.

  Ellis rose to offer his seat to Noelle or Alanna, then tossed an arm around each of their shoulders for a quick hug. His wolf rumbled at the contact, the small touches stroking a hand down his raised hackles. “Just keeping the peace.”

  The mates were a calming presence, even if they didn’t belong to him. But where they calmed, they also filled him with longing for a life he didn’t have.

  Didn’t want, either. Letting someone close enough to mate was also letting them close enough to stick a knife between the ribs. He’d played with that fire once before and got himself burned. He wasn’t interested in trying again.

  His wolf howled through his head.

  Wyatt threw two fake blows at his side before stepping next to Alanna. “The giant here got ‘em with the old one-two punch.”

  Atticus, their teenage son, eyed him with new interest. “Cool,” he breathed.

  Alanna narrowed her eyes and Wyatt frowned. “Not cool,” Alanna corrected. “What did we say about fighting?”

  “Only when it’s necessary and all other options have failed,” Atticus grumbled.

  Ellis shifted where he stood and pressed harder against the cut above his eye. He needed to say something, right? Something to underscore the life lesson they were trying to impart on the boy and discourage getting wild with his fists. He cleared his throat. “That’s right. They didn’t listen when warned to back off. I had to make them leave before they caused a bigger problem.”

  Atticus rolled his eyes. “Whatever.”

  Little punk. Ellis took a sick pleasure knowing how much trouble the kid would bring Wyatt. Payback was a bitch.

  And a life not meant for him.

  No, he’d left those dreams behind long ago when he nearly killed his brother.

  The door swung open to let Jensen through. His eyes immediately went to Noelle and Sienna. He strode for them, a smile cracking his stern face, and buried his nose in the crook of Noelle’s neck.

  Ellis cleared his throat and looked away from both happy families.

  Jensen sank to the ground and straightened Sienna’s shirt. She giggled and poked her father’s nose, receiving a playful growl and poke in return. Over her head, Jensen focused on Ellis. “The bears are gone with a warning not to come back and the humans got a free round of drinks. No busted tables this time, though we’re going to need more pool cues.” He arched an eyebrow. “You good to get back out there, big guy?”

  Ellis pulled the paper towels away from his face and worked his jaw. Sore, but nothing broken. And he’d stopped bleeding.

  Anything to get away from the suffocating happiness.

  He was sick of fighting. His wolf wanted n
othing else. He was being ripped apart right down the middle, jagged cuts being sealed with salt to keep him from putting himself back together again.

  What was that damn nursery rhyme about the broken egg? Fuck, it didn’t matter. He wasn’t going to saddle some poor woman with his mess long enough to learn those singsong tales.

  Ellis dipped his chin to his chest. “Let’s go.”

  Chapter 2

  Maylee Henderson squeezed her eyes closed and twisted the key in the ignition. The engine clicked, then clicked again. An ominous gurgling choked through the car just as Esme started to wail.

  “Shh. Shh, don’t cry,” Maylee begged. She rested her forehead against the steering wheel for a split second, hoping the one-year-old would quiet down and the car would start back up. No such luck. There was a second of silence as Esme sucked down a breath before letting off a scream loud enough to rattle the windows.

  Maylee twisted around and gently rocked the car seat. “I got you, sweet girl. Shh. Everything is going to be okay.”

  Except… it wasn’t. Hadn’t. Not for six months, and maybe never again.

  She rubbed at the ache welling in her chest. The incurable sadness hadn’t faded in the slightest since the night she lost her sister and her world upended, leaving her on the run with a baby.