Tristian: BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance (Blackbeary Creek Book 2) Read online

  Tristian

  (Blackbeary Creek, Book 2)

  Ruby Shae

  Tristian

  (Blackbeary Creek, Book 2)

  Copyright 2016 by Ruby Shae

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work, in whole or in part, in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the author.

  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.

  Please purchase only authorized electronic editions and do not participate in, or encourage, the electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  About This Book

  Scarlett Morrison has dated more than her share of losers. In an effort to find her own happy ever after, she’s been on more bad dates than she cares to remember. Unfortunately, most men aren’t looking for a tall, generously curved, boring librarian who prefers the quiet company of books over the noise of most people.

  Tristian Ryan, a black bear shifter and alpha of his clan, owns the most successful dance club in Blackbeary Creek, but he’s always preferred the quiet of his office over loud music and crowds. Always the responsible one, finding a mate isn’t on his list until his bear leads him to the gorgeous beauty sitting alone in his club.

  When Tristian sees Scarlett for the first time, he knows she’s his mate. Their mutual attraction is palpable, and while their first night together doesn’t go exactly as planned, giving up isn’t an option. Despite the fact that they have so much in common, Scarlett doesn’t believe she can be everything Tristian needs, and it will take the strength of an alpha to heal her damaged soul.

  Tristian

  (Blackbeary Creek, Book 2)

  By Ruby Shae

  Chapter One

  “So, you’re a librarian?”

  Scarlett Morrison resisted the urge to roll her eyes, and instead smiled at her date and nodded. Considering the guy had asked her out in the library, after she’d helped him find a book on Dachshund puppies, her occupation had seemed obvious.

  I am such an idiot!

  And so was her date.

  You’d think she would have learned her lesson after five years on the job, but apparently not.

  Good looking men visited the library all the time for various reasons—usually to study for work or school—but every now and then, an attractive, seemingly decent man gets the crazy idea to bang a librarian, and she falls for it nearly damn every time.

  Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!

  He probably doesn’t even have a puppy.

  The truth was, she knew he didn’t. She was so desperate to find someone who shared her interests, she gave almost every man a chance. Unfortunately, it always ended the same way.

  At least this one was honest.

  “Don’t you get bored looking at books all day?”

  “No, actually, I don’t,” she replied, calmly. “I find books fascinating, and I love my job.”

  “Oh,” he said, clearly shocked. “Well what do you do for fun?”

  “Usually, I read, but I also like watching movies and hanging out at home.”

  “Oh, come on,” he chided. “You can drop the boring librarian act.”

  “What do you mean?” she asked.

  “I love books…books books books…I read all the time, blah blah blah,” he mocked. “It’s only you and me here, Scar. You can tell me the truth. You have to have a better story than that.”

  Inwardly, Scarlett cringed at the shortened version of her name. She hated nicknames, but she hated them more when people tried to create one out of her name. She wasn’t the villain in a popular animated children’s film, and that was the only time she found the name Scar even remotely acceptable.

  “I don’t,” she shrugged. “Sorry.”

  She wasn’t, but what else could she say? The guy was a fucking idiot.

  “Bummer,” he sulked.

  Oh Lord. He literally stuck out his lower lip and pouted.

  “With a name like Scarlett Morrison, I thought you’d moonlight as a stripper, or be a closet party girl or something. Kind of like a librarian-gone-wild.”

  “Nope,” she shook her head. “This is me. What you see is what you get.”

  “Damn,” he bristled. “Any chance you want to change your persona for tonight and go wild on my dick in the bathroom?”

  “Um…no,” she said, not bothering to hide her look of disgust.

  “Well, fuck,” he said. “It figures I’d get stuck with the boring, fat, giant who actually likes her job. This obviously isn’t going to work out.”

  Well, duh!

  “Obviously,” she agreed.

  “Bye,” he said, sliding out of the booth. Scarlett didn’t reply, and as he walked away, she heard him call over his shoulder. “Thanks for wasting my time.”

  Ditto, asshole.

  Luckily, they’d opted for coffee, not dinner, and he’d paid for their drinks at the beginning of the date when he thought he’d be seeing her naked later. Another plus? She’d elected to meet him at the coffee house, so she still had a ride home.

  As much as she’d like to pretend she wasn’t an expert on dating losers—whether or not she met them at work—she couldn’t. Unfortunately, the story was always the same: at the end of the night, she was still the lonely, boring, tall, fat chick that repelled men faster than a skunk with its tail in the air.

  Why was it so hard to meet a man that shared her same interests? Or even a friend for that matter?

  The truth was simple.

  No one wanted a boring homebody as a friend, or a girlfriend.

  Honestly, her date would’ve had more success if he’d asked out one of her coworkers, and it wasn’t the first time. She liked to have fun, but she didn’t sleep around, and drinking and partying all night weren’t really her scene.

  Still, she wasn’t ready to give up. Not yet.

  Thanks to the many, many, many romance books she’d read over the years, she still believed there was someone out there for everyone—even an above-average height curvy girl, who loved books more than dancing.

  Scarlett took a deep breath and got up from the table, ignoring the sympathetic stares from the patrons, mostly women, who’d witnessed her date’s departure. She grabbed her disposable coffee cup, left his behind on purpose, and walked out the door with her head held high.

  The drive to her apartment was short, and after a quick stop at her favorite sub shop, she was ready to change into her favorite comfy pajamas, enjoy a delicious dinner, and escape in the pages of a book.

  Muffled music filled the lobby as she checked her mail, but the sound was amplified when the door to the first apartment suddenly swung open, revealing the two tenants who lived inside.

  “Scarlett!” Two high-pitched, female voices yelled in unison.

  “Hey guys,” she said, flashing them a fake smile.

  Candi and Amber, the two women who shared the first apartment, stood in the doorway holding plastic cups filled with colorful liquids she knew contained more alcohol than anything else.


  The two women were average height, slim, and they both had brown eyes, and long, straight brown hair that fell to their lower backs. Scarlett had never seen a strand out of place on either of their heads, not even after a night of partying.

  They were dressed in the same short, denim miniskirt, and they wore the identical tank top in different colors. Candi wore fuchsia, and Amber wore turquoise. Their physical appearances, combined with their matching outfits, made them look like twins, and their double dose of everything was kind of overwhelming.

  Especially since she’d hung out with them a few times, and learned early on that they were often catty and feigned friendship while insulting her with backhanded compliments.

  “How was your date?” Amber asked.

  “Ugh, don’t ask,” she forced a laugh. “Singlehood never looked so good.”

  “Singlehood rocks,” Amber said, laughing. “You should come join us.”

  Until now, she hadn’t bothered to see who waited in the apartment behind the women. She looked over the twins’ heads, and five men sat on the edges of various couch cushions, staring back at her like a herd of deer trapped in the headlights of an oncoming semi.

  “Yeah,” Candi chimed in. “I’m sure one of the guys won’t mind taking one for the team.”

  Ouch!

  Despite Candi’s slight, she considered accepting the invite just to see the men squirm over who would get stuck with the fat chick.

  “Well,” she said, pretending to consider the offer. “The night is still young…”

  “Please,” Amber said. “It will be so much fun.”

  One of the men stood, as if he would bolt the minute she stepped in the door, and she quickly denied their request. Even though it would be fun to mess with the men, the girls obviously had other plans, and she didn’t want to ruin their night.

  “I’d better pass,” she said, watching the man behind the women visibly relax and sink back into his seat. “But maybe next time.”

  She wouldn’t agree next time either, but they didn’t need to know that.

  “God, you need to loosen up and have some fun,” Candi said.

  “Definitely,” Amber agreed, “and we know the perfect guy—”

  “No thanks,” Scarlett said, cutting her off.

  “But he’s perfect for you,” Candi cried. “You’ll love him.”

  “You will love him,” Amber agreed. “Everyone does.”

  Right, then why aren’t you dating him?

  The thought gave her pause.

  If he really was perfect, then why weren’t they dating him? Could it be because they actually found him boring, like they did her, and he really was perfect for her?

  Should she trust them? Could she?

  Probably not, but what the hell.

  One more blind date wouldn’t kill her.

  “Okay,” she said. “Give him my number.”

  “Yay!” Candi clapped.

  “We’ll make sure he calls you, tomorrow,” Amber said.

  “Sounds good,” she said. “I’ll let you know how it goes.”

  “It will be amazing,” Candi declared.

  “Fantastically amazing,” Amber chimed in.

  “Okay,” she laughed at their enthusiasm. “I’m going to head upstairs now. I’ll see you guys later.”

  “Later.”

  “Bye.”

  Scarlett could hear their giggles as she walked away, and a sense of dread filled her as she climbed the stairs to her corner apartment on the opposite end of the building.

  A blind date set up by two people she didn’t really even like? In hindsight, she doubted they knew anyone perfect for her, especially someone everyone, including those two, actually liked.

  Though she understood her mindset at the time—she did think there was someone out there for everyone, and she wouldn’t find him if she didn’t try—she still couldn’t believe she’d agreed to be set up by the party twins.

  This might be her biggest mistake yet.

  ***

  Tristian Ryan closed his laptop, pushed away from his desk, and leaned back in his chair. The thumping base of a popular dance song vibrated through the building, and though he usually ignored the loud, repetitive dance beats, tonight was different.

  For the first time in the five years since he’d opened the club, hell, for the first time in forever, he felt as if the walls were closing in. The urge to shift, run, and never look back was so strong, so foreign, that a moment of panic washed over him.

  What the fuck is wrong with me?

  He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and tried to settle his nerves as his bear paced beneath the surface. The animal’s nervous patrolling made him want to crawl out of his skin, but when he stood with the intent to leave and shift, the bear roared in protest.

  Swamped with another wave of panic, he stumbled toward the desk and fell back into the chair. The weight of his body sent the chair crashing into the wall, and his palms instinctively wrapped around the armrests to brace himself for the crash. A second later, he felt the plastic under one of his grips crack as he focused on breathing in and out normally.

  Holy hell! I’m losing my fucking mind!

  In response to his wild accusations, his bear calmly sat back on its hind legs, and adopted a smug, satisfied look while pretending to inspect his paw. The fact that his animal had gone from silent to loud, and back again, in a matter of seconds, made him stop and think. His bear rarely resorted to dramatics, but the few times he had, the animal was trying to tell him something.

  Okay, so not crazy!

  The animal rolled his eyes and proceeded to pace again.

  He looked around the office, specifically at the four walls that had been suffocating a few minutes ago, and a sense of dread filled him. When the club closed, he’d have to go home, and there he would be surrounded by more walls. Many more.

  The old, spacious, two-story home he lived in was a lot bigger than his office in the club, but he’d never paid much attention to how much bigger until his sister, Tegan, moved out.

  The thought of returning to his huge house alone, even though the homes of his small clan flanked the building on both sides, made him feel empty and alone. He missed his sister, but deep down, he knew his feelings were more than simply missing his sibling.

  Mate!

  The thought made him pause, but his bear continued to pace.

  Though he wanted someone to spend his life with, finding a mate wasn’t something he thought about often, and he honestly couldn’t remember the last time he’d been on a date.

  No wonder Tegan had been worried about him.

  Of course, that wasn’t her only reason for wanting to leave, but when she’d asked for permission to move out, his happiness had been one of her concerns.

  He understood why, but he’d never held his sister responsible for his life choices. If anything, he’d often wished he’d been the one present when their parents were murdered instead of her. Anything to take away the memories she’d been burdened with on that horrific day.

  Eight years ago, days after his college graduation, he’d gotten the call.

  It had been a Friday evening, and Tegan and his parents were working in his family’s diner. During the lull between the dinner rush and closing, a man armed with a firearm entered the building and ended his parents’ lives.

  Shifters could heal from most things faster than full-humans, but they weren’t invincible. Especially against multiple, strategically targeted bullets.

  Thanks to his father’s stern warning, Tegan had hidden in the back until she knew, without a doubt, no one was coming to look for her.

  After alerting the authorities, she’d laid with their parents’ bloodied, lifeless bodies until help arrived, and they’d had to forcibly pull her away. Because he was too far away to seek revenge, Ethan’s parents, his parents’ best friends, hunted down the killer and obtained justice.

  In an effort to ease their pain, and help Tegan heal, he’d bought a
large, well-kept home from an old, retired shifter, and uprooted them to a city known and named for frequent black bear sightings.

  Blackbeary Creek had been their home for the last eight years.

  At first, their tiny clan consisted of only himself, Tegan and Ethan, but within four years, their numbers grew from three to six. Ethan had been his best friend from the time they were born, but he didn’t meet Aiden, Zach and Graham until after they’d relocated.

  When Tristian met Aiden and Zach, the cousins owned one of the most sought after security teams in the area. Like him, they were black bear shifters, and he’d hired them to protect Tegan during her first two years of college. When he’d asked them to work for him permanently, and join his clan, the pair leapt at the chance.

  They currently ran all security operations for both the club and the clan.

  Graham joined their group a couple of years later.

  The youngest male bear was the quietest and most reserved of the group, but that didn’t mean he was any less important than the others. In fact, Graham was Tegan’s best friend, and Tristian would have asked him to stay even if he wasn’t a technological wizard. Luckily, the man had mad skills when it came to tech stuff.

  Graham handled all of their gadgets, including everything from the smallest earpiece to the biggest alarm system, and everything in between.

  After the tragedy, Tristian hadn’t set out to start a clan of his own. His only goals had been to take care of Tegan, and create a new life for the both of them, but he was born to lead and nothing would ever change that.

  Upon meeting each bear, Tristian had recognized something special, and he’d instinctively known each man would be an asset to both his business and his clan. Every man in their group was an alpha in his own right, but they all deferred to him as their leader, and he trusted them all with his life.

  Like Tegan, they were his family.

  As the success of the club grew, Tristian expanded his estate by building each man a home of their own. Tegan had been too young to live alone at the time, and now that she was mated to Ethan, he was glad he’d waited.