Page 6 of Purrfectly Kissed

Besides, she was not alone. Today,shewas there to accompany Elissa.

Jessica Maverick was hell on Brayden’s system.

Even in her fur, she was radiant. Every time he saw the woman, he damn near swallowed his tongue. His Bear rose inside him, possessive about the curvaceous beauty and it was all he could do to rein in the animal.

But damn. The redheaded beauty was a certifiable knockout. A dream of a woman, unfortunately, she was also the Neta’s little sister. In other words, the she-Cat was completely off limits.

Mine, grunted his Bear.

A rumbling growl built inside him, and Brayden worked hard to shut that shit down.

And fast.

He had no use for that kind of thinking. He’d been mated once, or as near to it as he could get. Once upon a time when he’d been younger, honor bound, and stupid as fuck.

He’d made it his responsibility to care for a little Sow from his hometown of Barvale. The Bear Clan where he’d been raised was named after the town, and it was a really nice place to live.

About a forty-minute drive from Maverick Point, the Barvale Clan was small and mostly made up of Black Bear Shifters, with the odd Grizzly and Brown mixed in. Rumor had it a group of Polar Bears had joined them as a special security unit.

He hadn’t met them yet, but he was sure he would, eventually. Barvale was too close for him not to run into them. Even though he’d tried his best to avoid his old Clan.

The Devlins were in charge, and they ran it well. It wasn’t like they had mistreated him badly or anything like that. Far from it.

Marcus Devlin was the Alpha, and he was damn good at running Barvale. All of them were good, honest Bears. He just couldn’t stay there.

Not after the accident.

Fuck.

He hated thinking about it, but no matter how hard he tried, it was always there. And so was the guilt.

It was his fault Valerie had died. The Sow had only mated him after his best friend, hertrue mate, had gone off to Iraq after his unit had been called.

Enlisting at a young age, the fool was headstrong and bent on protecting his country. It should have been nothing, an easy tour. But he’d been killed in an explosion when sweeping for roadside bombs.

John Beverwyck had been more than his best friend. He’d been like a brother to Brayden. Losing him had broken something inside both Valerie and Brayden, and they’d turned to each other for comfort.

We were so fucking young.

His Bear groaned long and hard at the memories. Sex was always complicated, but this had damn near destroyed him.

After that one night together, Brayden had vowed to do right by Valerie. He’d asked her parents for her hand, and they hastily agreed. Especially when she’d shown signs of bearing.

He’d been so young and idealistic. Thought it would all work out, even though his Bear was full of sorrow and heartbroken over his lost brother.

Brayden should have suspected something terrible that day he’d left for work. Valerie had been depressed for weeks, but that morning she was bright and cheerful.

An echo of the young girl he’d known when John was alive and the two of them had been dating. He could almost smell her cherry blossom perfume and see the twinkle in her dark eyes as she said goodbye to him for the last time.

“I’ll be back late. The manager planned a meeting at four-thirty. The next train after that isn’t until seven,”he’d told her.

Guilt still racked him at the relief he’d felt at coming home late. The less time he’d spent with Valerie, the calmer his Bear was.

The animal had acknowledged her pregnant state with a sniff, but even his beast had known something was off or wrong.

Not wanting to know what it was, Brayden ignored his instincts. Hoping things worked themselves out, instead of putting in the effort to fix them himself. It was a coward’s way, and he was ashamed of how he’d acted.

Fuck.

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