The Bear King's Captive: Curvy Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance Read online

  THE BEAR KING’S CAPTIVE

  THE BEAR KING SERIES

  NEW YORK TIMES and USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR

  MILLY TAIDEN

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  Leah Tomson has been on the run since she was a kid. Every day is a struggle to stay alive. Now turning thirty, she wonders why she’s still here. When her path crosses with a boy who’s sucked into her world, she's got someone else depending on her for the first time. She won't let him down. When she finds them trapped by a mercenary and his crew, death is imminent. She knows she’ll fail a child, again.

  Commander Hannes 'Otso' Otila just finished a mission and is on his way home when his trip is disrupted by an unexpected cargo of the curvy, mouthy, and sassy type. With this luscious woman comes a boy and a lot of problems that drive him bat shit crazy. But instead of letting them go, his biggest desire, and that of his polar bear, is to keep her forever. He'll happily hold her his captive and if the moment comes, give his life for her.

  A big-time drug lord wants Leah dead, and it's up to Hannes and Leah to keep her and the boy alive. That's turning out to be harder than either anticipated when his second-in-command turns on him. While Hannes protects Leah from danger, protecting his own heart from her is a lot more difficult. The burning need to have her pushes his control, but is she worth the chance of another broken heart? Hannes is about to realize no matter what he decides, his bear made a choice: Leah is his and no amount of internal struggle will change the animal's mind.

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are fictitious or have been used fictitiously, and are not to be construed as real in any way. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales, or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  Published By

  Latin Goddess Press Inc.

  Winter Springs Florida, 32708

  http://millytaiden.com

  The Bear King’s Captive

  Copyright © 2016 by Milly Taiden

  Cover by Willsin Rowe

  Edited by: Tina Winograd

  All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  Property of Milly Taiden

  MARCH 2016

  Contents

  THE BEAR KING’S CAPTIVE

  ONE

  TWO

  THREE

  FIVE

  SIX

  SEVEN

  EIGHT

  NINE

  TEN

  ELEVEN

  TWELVE

  THIRTEEN

  FOURTEEN

  FIFTEEN

  SIXTEEN

  SEVENTEEN

  EIGHTEEN

  NINETEEN

  TWENTY

  TWENTY-ONE

  TWENTY-TWO

  TWENTY-THREE

  TWENTY-FOUR

  TWENTY-FIVE

  TWENTY-SIX

  TWENTY-SEVEN

  TWENTY-EIGHT

  TWENTY-NINE

  THIRTY

  THIRTY-ONE

  THIRTY-TWO

  THIRTY-THREE

  THIRTY-FOUR

  THIRTY-FIVE

  THIRTY-SIX

  THIRTY-EIGHT

  THIRTY-NINE

  FORTY

  FORTY-ONE

  FORTY-TWO

  FORTY-THREE

  FORTY-FOUR

  FORTY-SIX

  FORTY-SEVEN

  FORTY-EIGHT

  FORTY-NINE

  FIFTY

  FIFTY-ONE

  FIFTY-TWO

  EPILOGUE

  THE BEAR KING’S REVENGE

  WOLF FEVER

  ONE

  TWO

  THREE

  FOUR

  FIVE

  SIX

  SEVEN

  EIGHT

  NINE

  TEN

  ELEVEN

  About the Author

  —For Tina

  It’s amazing how one day someone walked into your life and you wondered how you lived without them. You’re amazing and I am thankful every day for you.

  Hannes and Leah wouldn’t be here without you!

  ONE

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  As a thank you, I’ve added the first chapter of The Bear King’s Revenge, Book 2 of the Bear King Series which follows THIS book!

  Also, after that, you’ll find an additional book, Wolf Fever, at the back of this book for all readers to enjoy for FREE.

  She crouched in the exact spot, at the perfect angle, where the push of a button would vaporize every assassin within one hundred feet, and not touch one split-end on her head. Her finger poised, excited giddiness coursed through Leah’s body like an electric current. Sweet revenge.

  Her nail tapped the D square on the keyboard. She waited for the virtual mushroom cloud, but instead, the laptop flashed to the blue screen of death. Fatal error has occurred. Game over.

  “No shit, Sherlock.” Leah rubbed her dry eyes and leaned her head beside the hole in the drywall. Sometimes programming flowed like a Creamsicle in the Arizona desert. Other times, like dog poop through a swizzle stick. Tonight was the latter.

  In the other room of the efficiency apartment came a knock on her door. She chewed her bottom lip. Visitors were not welcome, especially at 7:30 at night in Cleveland’s highest crime rate district. Swinging her legs off the threadbare mattress that sat on the floor, she closed her laptop and slid it between the springs and carpet, well out of sight.

  She tiptoed down the hallway and eased along the front room wall, peeking around the ratty sheet covering the window. Leah let out the breath she’d been holding. A slender guy with a nicely rounded ass stood looking over the balcony at the algae-covered pool in the courtyard five stories down. Her gaze locked onto his purple patent leather shoes.

  With little worry, she moved the steel baseball bat to the backside of the door, unfastened the deadbolt, but left the security chain in place. Thumping music and party noise below held the man’s attention.

  “Hey. Can I help you?”

  He turned with a jerk. His hands flew over his heart and he gasped. “You so scared me, deary.” His high-pitched voice made her flinch. Dammit—always the good-looking ones. He smiled. “I wanted to introduce myself.” His arm floated toward her, wrist bent. “I’m Bobaloo.”

  Boba-who? He had to be joking.

  Realizing the door opening was too narrow to shake hands, his face scrunched into a pout. “Oh, my.” He clasped his hands in front of his chest, smile returning. “I’m moving in next door. It’s nice to meet you.”

  “Same here.” Leah’s eyes traveled down his fitted cream shirt and tight purple pants to those shoes she never would’ve thought existed outside the Wizard of Oz. Leah’s hand wiped over her lips to hide her grin. “I’m Candice.”

  At the far end of the balcony, the rusted zigzag stairs groaned under someone’s heavy weight. Bobaloo perked up. “There’s another neighbor for me to meet.” His fingers wiggled at her. “I’ll be right back, Candice.”

  She closed and bolted the door as he scurried away. Why couldn’t she meet Mr. Tall Dark Prince Charming instead of the new gay guy? At least she wouldn’t worry about him trying to get into her pants. Then again, after ten years of no
intimacy, a little would be nice.

  Leah slapped her hand on her forehead and dragged it down her face. Was she so hard up that simply seeing a good-looking guy, gay or not, sent her into a tizzy? She had to do something with her life except hide in roach-infested slums and design video games.

  But after what she’d done, she could only blame herself. The past would--Bobaloo knocked on her door again. He said he’d be back, but she was hoping it’d be in a year or so. She opened the door fully.

  The man staring at her--shaggy hair, surprised eyes, and thick moustache curling at the ends--who the hell had curling mustaches in this day and age?--was a long way from Bobaloo. She slammed the door shut, flipped the lock, and pushed her back against it.

  A voice growled, “Open or I kick it in, señorita.” His fist smashed against the wood, sending a shockwave through the two-inch barrier. The cheap deadbolt held, but the decaying doorjamb popped and cracked.

  How in the hell did this guy find her?

  Leah snatched the bat and squatted against the wall behind the door. Another crash against the barrier and the upper hinge screws broke, allowing the door to tear halfway open, easily popping the poor excuse for security devices.

  Still crouched, bat ready, Leah waited for the intruder’s shadow to move forward. In a lunge faster than she thought possible, the shadow rounded the door, his arms extended several feet over her head. She whipped the bat around and bashed his knees.

  His scream blended with the party racket. As the shadow disappeared, dust fell on her shirt. Glancing up, she saw a tranq dart buried in the wall where her chest would’ve been if she were standing.

  Leah sprang toward the man writhing on the floor. The hand with the gun popped up and she swung as if playing T-ball. Bone crunched as the weapon flew from his fingers. He writhed into a ball, protecting the ruined hand, then with his other pulled another gun from inside his bulky black jacket. This weapon, lengthened with a silencer, housed no dart. Leah dove to the side. A dime-sized hole appeared in the wall by her side.

  Why was he trying to kill her? It made no sense. If he succeeded, he’d get nothing. She wasn’t sticking around to find out. Another silenced shot chased her through the door to the outside terrace. She prayed he couldn’t shoot with his left hand as she ran for the stairwell. Even though she was proud of her self-image and abundant curves, she could see where being a toothpick at this second would come in handy. Not that she didn’t keep in pretty good shape for her big size, but a little more speed would do amazing things for her at that moment.

  At the zigzag stairs at the terrace’s end, Leah grabbed the railing and flung herself down three steps. The glass pane by her head shattered into razor blades. She stumbled onto the landing to the fourth level. With a glance over the railing, she realized these steps ended in the open courtyard. Only scroungy shrubs alongside the pool offered a place to hide. On the third floor landing, she clutched the railing and slid around to the next steps.

  A bullet zinged off the rail, clipping her hand. Fear she’d not felt for twenty years crashed on her.

  Halfway down the next flight, she looked up. Survival instincts took control. A shot of adrenaline filled her body and mind. From the second stop, she leapt onto the railing and launched into the air. No time to be afraid of breaking a bone, the fear of death was much greater.

  Mid-flight her brain caught up with her actions. She sailed over the crumbling walkway, headed for the scraggly bushes. Arms wrapped around her head, Leah tore through the thicket, crashed onto tile, and rolled into the moss-covered pool.

  The shockingly cold water jolted her body. Approaching the twelve-foot-deep mark, she stared at the coffin-shaped hole in the algae wall floating above her.

  A shadow covered the opening, leaving her in a murky chasm. A woman’s muffled scream pierced the water. A stabbing pain ripped through Leah’s chest. Air! Her body thrashed in the weightless environ. What if he was waiting, ready to put a bullet in her head? She had no choice. Leah aimed for the hole and kicked.

  Her body continued to sink. Shit! Her lungs burned. Her mouth filled with the putrid water as it sought air. She stroked with her arms, but her waterlogged clothes dragged. She frequently dreamed of death meeting her underwater, but not in a pool.

  She erupted from the green surface, gasping, bobbing under before latching onto the pool’s side. Leah coughed and flung the green slime from her face. He was gone.

  Heavy footsteps echoed through the breezeway, headed toward the parking lot. A car door slammed shut then tires squealed. Someone pulled away from the handicapped parking spot. Still heaving, she rested her forehead on her hands gripping the tiled edge.

  “Honey, you all right?”

  Leah whipped her head around. Standing at the end of the courtyard, a woman in knee-high stiletto boots, holding a cigarette, gawked at her. Leah lifted herself out of the water and collapsed onto the ground. “Yeah, I’m fine.” She rolled onto her knees, then stood and shivered in the cool October breeze. “Just a fight with my drunk boyfriend. That’s all.”

  The woman puffed on her cigarette. “Want me to call the cops?”

  “No!” Leah’s kneejerk reaction to the question made the woman frown. “I mean, he’s gone and I’m just wet. No need to stir up the whole complex, right?”

  Smoke rolled out the woman’s nose and mouth. “Whatever you say, honey.” A door on the first floor opened. Lewd party noise dumped out along with an arguing couple. Others with beers in hand tottered behind the two, cheering on the fight. The smoking woman followed the sidewalk to the apartment.

  More party goers filled the courtyard, making Leah feel a little safer. He wouldn’t dare return with so many witnesses. She climbed the stairs to the fifth level, carefully toeing around the glass shards on the top flight.

  In her dark bedroom shadows, she stripped out of cold clothes and donned a striped turtleneck and jeans. A hot shower would be nice, but she didn’t want to waste any luck she had remaining. She grabbed the backpack from the closet and tossed it onto the mattress.

  Leah knew why they hunted her, but she’d never regret her actions. How did this guy get so close? She covered her tracks completely, or so she thought. Never used her real name or stayed in one place too long.

  She gathered her few possessions, including a beat-up, faded photo she’d carried since a child in her inside coat pocket.

  Leah would get justice for her loved ones, even if she had to run forever.

  The odds of staying alive are slim when a powerful drug lord has a $10 million bounty on your head.

  TWO

  Entering the train station, Leah buttoned her jacket and pulled down the bill of her Cavalier’s cap. The number of people in the building at this time of night surprised her. Traveling by train wasn’t a popular medium at other stations she’d passed through.

  “Destination, please.” The grandmotherly lady behind the ticket counter stared at her computer monitor.

  “Next train leaving.”

  The woman’s head pivoted and peered at Leah over narrow glasses on the end of her nose. She raised a heavily penciled eyebrow. “That would be Cincy, young lady.”

  Leah nodded. “Yes, I meant Cincy, sorry.”

  “Train arrives in fifteen minutes.” The lady took the debit card from Leah then pulled the ticket from a slot in the laminated countertop. Leah slipped the paper into her pocket. Fifteen minutes was perfect. She’d be long gone before that man searched for her here. He was probably scoping bus stations and airports.

  She headed for the back corner, picking her way through aisles cluttered with luggage and outstretched legs. Slouching in the hard bottom seat, she glanced at all the exits.

  Several rows in front of her, a woman her age took a baby out of a carrier. The mother cradled the infant, carefully keeping the head tucked between her arm and chest. She rocked and patted the child’s back. The man next to the mom covered the baby with a blue blanket with cute little lions, and planted a kiss on
his wife’s cheek.

  Leah turned away, swallowing the lump in her throat.

  A scrawny young teen sitting a few seats over slapped his hands on his laptop’s keyboard. “Crap! I’m never getting past this level.” His wild curly hair flopped over his eyes, uncovering an ear pierced from top to bottom with gold studs.

  A pretty woman sitting next to him turned toward him. With red puffy eyes, it looked like she’d been crying. “Vonny, if you can’t play it quietly--”

  “I know, I won’t play it at all.” The boy laid his head back. She sighed, rose from her seat, and walked toward the window that overlooked the shipping docks and water terminal. The boy a few seats over mumbled to himself. Leah leaned back and peeked at the laptop screen. She smiled.

  “Hey, kid. Need help with that game?”

  The boy popped his head up and eyed her suspiciously. “I keep dying at the snake sand pit.”

  Leah stared at his pierced eyebrow and bottom lip. His look was not popular in the Midwestern fashion crowd. Kids today had all kinds of piercings, but his hard-cut image didn’t match his delicate age. She nodded. “Yeah, that one’s hard. You have to know the trick.”

  The kid’s mouth gaped and his eyes grew wide. “You know a trick to this game? It just came out two days ago, and you’re old.” His cheeks flushed red. “I-I didn’t mean…”

  Covering an unexpected laugh with her hand, she scooted toward him. He set the laptop on the seat between them and handed her the controller.

  “The secret to Sarlacc’s Hole comes before you get there.” She maneuvered through battle scenes with perfect precision. Occasionally, the boy gawked at her. “Here at the mountain, Han Solo has to zap the bottom boulder until it breaks up.” She pressed the button on the controller until the virtual rock exploded. “Then Princess Leia appears and uses the Force. Watch.” A woman dressed in white walked in from screen left and raised her arms over her head. Boulders sitting on the slope started trembling. The scene disappeared behind a brown haze.