Claiming His Human Read online

  Red Mountain Bears 3

  Claiming His Human

  Werebear Rick O’Riley thinks love isn’t for him. Mates seem complicated until he crosses paths with an opinionated human. The attraction between Craig and him is instantaneous, but Craig has to eventually return to his normal life back in the city. However, Rick will show Craig that once a werebear scents his mate, he’ll never give up until Craig becomes his.

  Craig is a human with a mission. He traveled all the way to a remote town to convince his best friend to return to the city, only to find out fate has other plans in store for him. Meeting a grumpy werebear wasn’t in his itinerary, but he can’t deny the scorching heat between them. Craig thought he only wanted to focus on his modeling career, but things turn complicated when matters of the heart are involved. He knows Rick is the one for him, but can he give up what he loves for the man who’s stolen his heart?

  Genre: Alternative (M/M, Gay), Paranormal, Romantic Suspense, Shape-shifter

  Length: 24,021 words

  CLAIMING HIS HUMAN

  Red Mountain Bears 3

  Fel Fern

  

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK

  CLAIMING HIS HUMAN

  Copyright © 2018 by Fel Fern

  ISBN: 978-1-64010-925-4

  First Publication: February 2018

  Cover design by Harris Channing

  All art and logo copyright © 2018 by Siren Publishing, Inc.

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.

  All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

  WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

  If you find a Siren-BookStrand e-book or print book being sold or shared illegally, please let us know at

  [email protected]

  PUBLISHER

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Felicia Fern works as a graphic designer during the day, and loves penning M/M paranormal erotic romance at night.

  A sadist who loves watching her heroes break their backs trying to earn their happy endings, Fel likes throwing in the occasional dash of the unknown to the usual romantic concoction.

  www.felfern.com

  https://tinyletter.com/felfern

  https://www.facebook.com/author.felfern

  For all titles by Fel Fern, please visit

  www.bookstrand.com/fel-fern

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  About the Author

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Landmarks

  Cover

  CLAIMING HIS HUMAN

  Red Mountain Bears 3

  FEL FERN

  Copyright © 2018

  Chapter One

  Rick O’Riley woke up that morning in a foul mood, his bear feeling unsettled. He flung the comforter aside. Sweat coated his front and back.

  With narrowed eyes, he focused on his supernatural hearing. His bear was alert, too, for any sign of an intruder. Only an out-of-town bastard would be foolish enough to try robbing an O’Riley werebear. If Rick missed something, his brothers Mac and Connor wouldn’t.

  He waited. One second passed. Two.

  Nothing. Rick rose to his feet and padded to the window. Daylight broke over the nearest line of trees, signaling it was the start of a new day. He grunted, shielding his eyes. Rick had only gotten home hours earlier. He heard laughter underneath him, spotted Mac shoving his mate Pat against his truck and closing in for a kiss.

  Feeling like a Peeping Tom, he pulled away from the window. Rick put on a pair of jeans and headed downstairs. Uneasy silence. In the span of four months, both his brothers had found their mates and moved to the two cabins on the property.

  It felt odd to be living alone. After their parents died, Rick took it upon himself to look after his younger brothers, refusing to let social services step in and pull them apart. In doing so, he isolated himself from Mac and Connor, because one of them had to be the adult in the family.

  Part of him mourned the fact he’d always be the one looking in, because Mac and Connor were a lot closer, understood each other better. Then he remembered that, at least, he kept his promise to his dad—to keep their family together.

  He’d cursed, fought, and threatened to kick his brothers’ asses for so long, and now that they were gone, he was unnerved by the empty house.

  Rick huffed, feeling even grumpier when he didn’t smell any freshly brewed coffee. Mac always woke first, and by the time he came down, a fresh pot was on the counter. He grunted. This new arrangement just needed getting used to. That was all.

  He was happy for his brothers, he really was. Rick had been worried most about Connor, whose bear became wilder and more savage than Mac and his, especially after their parents died. To his surprise, it had been Connor who found his mate first. To be fair, Danny had found Connor.

  Then Mac’s turn came next. Pat was the childhood friend Mac had lost and reunited with. Rick didn’t believe the same would happen to him. He didn’t need a mate anyway. If Rick wanted extra company, he wouldn’t have a problem hitting up any of the unmated shifters in town.

  Too bad none of them held the interest of his bear for too long. Rick was destined to live the rest of his life alone. Well, that didn’t sound so bad. He had the bar and his brothers. That was all he needed.

  It took him half an hour before he finally had a steaming mug of coffee in his hands. Rick took a sip, then spat. Fuck that tasted awful. Did Mac have a special trick when it came to making coffee? Loading the drink with more sugar and milk helped a little.

  By then, Mac and Pat had gone for the day. So had Connor and Danny. He heard the loud pair arguing earlier. Finally, Rick had some peace and quiet to himself.

  He’d only open the Honey Bear, the bar his father passed to him that he and his brothers stubbornly keep running, when evening came around. Odd. Rick usually slept through the morning and woke at noon, but he had trouble sleeping lately.

  Rick retrieved the morning paper, was about to look at the sports section when he heard it—the rattling of an engine. It sounded like the cries of a dying animal. Annoyed and still lacking sleep, he thought nothing of it, but there was it again.

  What the hell?

  Go the fuck away, please. Bother someone else.

  Mac told him a renter would pop by later that afternoon, but it was only nine in the morning. Few people drove all the way out here, and the Red Mountains wasn’t exactly a popular tourist getaway thanks to its remote location. Its isolation was one of the reasons why Rick thought of this place as home. He might run a bar, but he couldn’t stand crowds. Even then, most of his customers were regulars and fellow paranormals.

  Must be some lost tourist. God. Rick hated those. If he pretended no one was home, that might make the annoying person go away. The sound stopped. Good, but his bear
caught a new scent. Male. Human. A car door opened, hinges creaking. He groaned. Rick always had a better sense of smell and hearing than his brothers.

  Rick clenched his jaw. Seriously?

  “Hello? Excuse me, anyone here?” a male voice soon called after.

  Rick answered with a growl, which could easily be heard beyond his cabin. A squeak followed, then the sound of the car door creaking again.

  Good. Hopefully that would give whoever was out there a clue that he didn’t want to be bothered.

  Satisfied, he returned to his paper, only to hear hurried footsteps alarmingly close to the front door. Then a knock. Ignoring the bastard didn’t work, because when he didn’t say another word, there were more insistent knocks.

  “Excuse me? Mr. Shifter? I know you’re there.”

  He groaned. This human was so damn persistent. Maybe a flash of claws and throwing in a couple of growls would finally get the message across. Rick strode to the front door, mood worse than ever.

  * * * *

  Craig Waters hesitated at the next answering growl. The hairs on his arms rose. Old and buried fear rose up, memories of yellow eyes in the dark and a greasy voice he still heard in his nightmares.

  Come here, little human. Come a little closer. I won’t bite.

  Craig shook that voice aside and stuffed those bad memories in a box. He wasn’t that frightened twelve-year-old kid anymore. Craig had been through plenty of therapy sessions to understand that his experience with Peter Royce had been an anomaly. Not all shifters were monsters, but still, the old fears lingered in his mind.

  The front door opened, revealing a huge titan of a man with blazing green eyes and a short, thick, wavy black hair that framed a handsome face and square how. Craig swallowed. Gods. This shifter was buff, built like a damn freaking brick wall, no inch of fat on him.

  “If you’re selling anything, go the fuck away.”

  “Wow,” he muttered. “Rude.”

  The giant narrowed his eyes at him, huge chest heaving. The intensity of that stare could burn holes into him. Craig forgot why he was there in the first place.

  “Stop it,” the shifter snapped.

  Thank God, he found his tongue. “Excuse me? I’m not doing anything.”

  “I can smell your fear,” the shifter said flatly. “It’s riling up my bear, so calm the fuck down.”

  Craig wasn’t used to crass talk. He could still walk away, but damn it, he had to know if Danny was alright. What if Danny was being held captive by his shifter boyfriend? This location was a ways off the main town area. Who knew if Danny’s so-called mate kept his best friend in a basement? So, he did as the big guy asked and breathed in and out until he calmed down.

  “Better?” he asked sarcastically.

  The shifter crossed his arms over that massive chest. Every muscle in the guy’s arms seemed to stick out like bands of steel. He wondered how it would be like, to run his fingers over all that yummy—

  Craig killed that line of thought before it took root. Given his past with shifters, why the hell was he thinking about climbing this gorgeous werebear like a tree? He blushed. Damn it. Craig modeled for a living. He was used to attention, to the media chronicling every little aspect of his life. Why couldn’t he speak to this brute of a mountain man like a normal person?

  He doubted the guy even knew who he was. Danny was more famous, or used to be, but after Danny left the spotlight, eyes fell on Craig. Thanks to Danny, his fame skyrocketed and he received more offers, but he missed his best friend.

  Danny was his person, the one guy he could always count on to vent all his problems. After that incident when he’d been twelve, everyone liked offering their fake sympathies, but no one truly knew what it had been like or wanted to hear about the horror story of his past.

  Only Danny was his real friend when he started his career in modeling. The rest of the models only used each other, and he had no stomach for games.

  “Human, are you listening?”

  He snapped to attention at that voice, then frowned. “Human? Why do you say it like that, like we’re some kind of plague?” he demanded. “You hate us or something?”

  The shifter grunted, pupils turning yellow. Woah. He knew that wasn’t a good sign.

  “I put up with my brothers’ mates all the time. Maybe you’re the one with something against us shifters,” the guy had the gall to say.

  “I want to see Danny,” he declared.

  The guy blinked several times. “You know Danny? Why am I not surprised?”

  “What the hell does that mean?”

  “Don’t get all defensive over nothing, little human,” the shifter said.

  “Well—” he hesitated. Okay, maybe he was a little rattled. Craig drove all the way in the middle of nowhere after all to check on his best friend. He put his career on hold—well, that wasn’t exactly true. Craig thought the trip would be good for him, too, because he was burning out. Realizing the huge shifter waited for an answer, just like a huge predatory animal eying its prey, he bolstered his courage and asked, “What do you mean you’re not surprised?”

  “You’re both opinionated and pains in the ass.”

  He huffed. Craig would have been insulted if it wasn’t for the fondness in the guy’s tone. “I know you’re holding him captive, you and your brothers.” Danny wrote him an email a while ago, but he knew it was a lie. Craig knew Danny inside and out. That was what best friends were for. He didn’t for a second believe Danny would turn his entire life around for a man. Well, a werebear with two other burly brothers.

  He lifted his chin and asked in his most demanding voice, “Where’s my best friend? Where are you and your bear brothers keeping him?”

  “Captive? What the hell are you accusing me and my brothers of now?” the shifter growled.

  “Rick, what’s going on?” a voice asked.

  Craig turned to see another big giant carrying none other than Danny in his huge arms. He ran to his best friend, ready to help, then paused in his footsteps. Danny laughed at something the big man had said. It struck him that he’d never seen his best friend this happy. Ever. Danny looked at him, eyes widening.

  “Baby, can you put me down?” Danny asked the guy.

  Baby? There was definitely obvious affection there.

  Once on his feet, Danny stared. “Craig? What are you doing here?” Before he could answer, Danny walked up to him and pulled him into a fierce hug. “Oh my God, Craig. I missed you so much.”

  Whatever he was about to say was muffled as Danny tightened the hug.

  Danny wore a sheepish look on his face when he released him, looking surprised when Craig punched him in the shoulder. Craig ignored the snarl that came from the guy who was probably Danny’s mate.

  “I can’t believe this. I came here to rescue you!”

  Chapter Two

  Rick stood next to his brother Connor, who wore a contemplative look on his face.

  “Interesting morning?” Connor asked him.

  Rick bared his teeth. “All I wanted was some peace and quiet, before this human barged in.”

  He didn’t know why this human got to him so easily. Worse, Craig—he overheard Danny calling him—had piqued the curiosity of his bear. Rick was stumped. No human or shifter had ever caught his animal’s interest, yet Craig’s scent still clung to him, intoxicating and rich.

  Rick, however, still couldn’t help noticing the initial fear in Craig’s brown eyes. Maybe the human reacted that way to all shifters, but he had a feeling there was a story behind that. Not his business anyway. Craig looked like Danny when Danny first moved into his rental cabin—a man pretending to be someone else. The hoodie, the shirt, plain jeans, and sneakers didn’t seem to quite fit Craig, as if they weren’t the normal clothes he wore.

  Craig was probably a model, just like Danny. God. Rick had been annoyed by Danny at first. The human was like a fish out of water, big time city model who moved into their little town, but eventually, he accepted the
fact Danny was sticking around permanently. Besides, Rick had seen for himself how Danny anchored his brother.

  Rick had been too busy keeping their dad’s bar afloat that Connor and Mac had to grow up on their own. He didn’t regret his decisions, after all, back then he had to prove to the foster system that a kid barely on the threshold of adulthood could provide financially for his two younger brothers.

  Even so, Connor’s bear had turned violent and unpredictable. Rick and Mac had been worried they needed to put Connor down if the worse came to pass and Connor’s bear went berserk. Thank God for Danny’s arrival.

  Rick really tried not to eavesdrop, but werebears, like all shifters, had built-in supernatural hearing. He couldn’t help it.

  “…I came all the way here, worried out of my mind, thinking you’re being held captive,” Craig was saying.

  “Craig, I’m so sorry. There’ve just been so many changes in my life, and I did send you emails and text message updates,” Danny replied.

  “They weren’t enough! You really scared the hell out of me. It wasn’t like you, changing everything for a guy.”

  Connor and he traded looks. This looked like it would take some time.

  “Coffee?” he asked his brother.

  Connor nodded, following him back to the house all three of them grew up in. He noticed his brother looking around the place with interest. Rick had to admit he knew Mac a lot better than Connor, simply because Connor liked being on his own. Unlike Mac, Connor had never been vocal. Connor was the kind of brother who would tackle his problems on his own and only ask for help when it became too late.