Chapter 3
Chapter Three
Maisy
“They said it couldn’t be done. They said we’d be under six inches of snow. But look at us now!” my grandma crows.
“Uh, Daisy?” I look up from my clipboard and look around. “We are under six inches of snow.”
There’s nothing Bad Bear Mountain loves like a festival. But this is the first annual Winterfest–a two-week event meant to bring the community together, and I’m not sure if the turnout is what we’d like.
But the cold isn’t as bad as I thought it’d be.
I’m in a cute GoddessWear snow outfit, cornflower blue with a faux fur hood.
Daisy is in a similar ski outfit that’s canary yellow.
She even has her signature faux daisy fixed to her snow hat.
The bright color actually looks great against her white hair.
“Nonsense. It’s only three. And I told everyone to bundle up!” She bends down, scoops up a bit of snow, and packs it into a tiny snow pellet she then launches at Old Man Luther’s back. “Bullseye, yeah!”
“Dagnabbit!” He claps a hand to the back of his neck as he turns and glowers at Daisy. My grandma waves and zooms off before he gets the courage to yell at her.
I trot to keep up with her.
“What’s going on with the Ferris wheel?” she asks. “Why isn’t it running?”
I sigh and consult my clipboard. I found the town a killer deal on the Ferris wheel because it’s off-season. No one else in New Mexico thinks it’s a good idea to have an outdoor county fair in January. I wonder why?
“Maintenance check. The attendant seemed overwhelmed, so I asked Axel to help.” Axel is another one of Dr. Hunk’s brothers. He’s amazing with anything mechanical.
“Axel, eh?” Daisy gives me a sly look. “How is that handsome young man?”
“He’s a great friend,” I say firmly. Daisy has tried to set me up with Axel before. She even made him be my date to senior prom. I was mortified that she asked him, but he showed up in a ‘69 Camaro that he’d just rebuilt from the wheels up and acted like the perfect gentleman all night.
After that, we’ve hung out a few times, mostly going for rides in the cars or bikes he’s fixing up. He even took me to some of his races. He’s a few years older than I am and effortlessly cool with his long hair, tattoo sleeves, and chill vibe. I wish I could have a crush on him.
But no, it’s always been Dr. Hunk. In every romance novel I’ve read since I first discovered the genre at age fifteen, I’ve replaced the hero with Dr. Hunk. He’s the man who’s starred in every fantasy I’ve ever had.
Not Dr. Hunk. Dr. Stark. Dr. Stark. With my luck, I’ll slip and call him that, and then I’ll really have to change my name and move to Alaska. Or maybe somewhere warm–Mexico.
“I should get back to the Daisy Day booth before things get too busy,” I say.
“No, dear. Everest has that well in hand. Or paw.”
We both turn to the booth where a giant polar bear is carefully ladling out hot chocolate from a big black cauldron.
The fact that there are werebears on this mountain is kind of an open secret to the two hundred citizens of Bad Bear, so the townspeople are used to the sight of Everest in bear form.
Right now, the kids in line look like their every dream has come true.
I get that having a polar bear serve you hot chocolate is a big attraction, but he keeps eating the marshmallows. “I guess.”
“You’re young.” Daisy claps my shoulder.
“You should be out with your friends, having fun. I know, you can ride the Ferris wheel once it’s working again.
” She grabs my arm, and my clipboard goes flying.
She tugs me towards the Ferris wheel, surprisingly strong for her age.
Lately she’s been weightlifting as part of Dr. Hunk… Stark’s health plan for her.
I look around for Missy in the crowd as she leads me over, hoping to make an excuse that will leave Daisy satisfied that I’m socializing.
I really don’t want to ride the Ferris wheel, not in freezing temperatures.
I mean, I’m not ten years old. I especially don’t need to ride it by myself.
That would be…awkward. Then again, maybe Daisy needs me to get on and ride to get the party going and prove her point that it’s not too cold for a Winterfest.
Yes, that probably is the case. Okay, fine. I surrender. For Daisy, I’ll ride the damn thing. Even if I have to do it by myself. As Daisy’s granddaughter, I am also a de facto social coordinator and representative of this town’s government.
Except…oh God.
Is that Dr. Hunk standing by the Ferris wheel, talking to his brother Teddy and his brother’s partner Lana?
Of course it is. There aren’t that many six foot five black men on Bad Bear Mountain.
I’ve managed to avoid him since that embarrassing appointment a few weeks ago. I’m on birth control now, and Nancy, the nurse practitioner, is monitoring my symptoms. There isn’t a cure for PCOS, but the pain medication helped me get past the ovulation pain. I’m feeling much, much better.
My other New Year’s resolutions are going great, too. Missy talked me into dyeing my hair blonde, and in the spring, we both plan on walking a 5k.
That only leaves setting a boundary with my father and then…EEP…asking someone out on a date.
Unfortunately, the only man I want to be alone with is Dr. Hunk.
I’ve been fantasizing about him for far too long in private and avoiding him in public as much as possible.
It’s hard to do in a town of two hundred people, but I’m committed.
I’ve managed to never be alone with him until the disastrous day at the clinic.
We exchanged two texts, and I’ve not seen him since.
That streak is about to end. I suck in a sharp breath and try to veer away, but Daisy has my arm. She’s already lifted her hand, waving at them like she’s trying to flag down a taxi.
Shit, shit, shit.
I really want to turn and run.
Where is Missy? I scan the crowd, hoping to find my bubbly friend. I need her right now. She’s great at smoothing awkward conversations and filling weird silences. That’s probably why she’s been my best friend since I moved to Bad Bear Mountain.
It’s too late. Dr. Hunk waves back at Daisy, but his gaze is on me. My breath catches under my ribs. A hot flush rushes down my arms as the memory of how it felt to be held by him teases me.
Lana and Teddy look over and wave as well.
Lana’s wearing a fitted gray dress that showcases her big pregnant belly.
She rests her hand on her belly, and Teddy has his over hers.
They are the cutest couple ever, and I swear I can feel cramping in my ovaries, like I just dropped another egg.
What would it be like to have triplets with a bear-man? With Dr. Hunk…Stark…Matthias?
Whoa. My thoughts are skidding off track. I’m staring at the object of my fantasies, and it’s derailing my brain.
It seems there’s no escaping. I’ll have to talk to him. To them, I mean. I’ll have to talk to them.
It’s not like it’s a date. It’s just a quick conversation before I get on the Ferris wheel. I can do this without slipping and falling into his arms, dropping something, or blurting out something stupid.
I can converse with him without sighing and fanning my face like a love-struck goon.
He’s just a man. Just a gorgeous, hot, swoony doctor-man who makes my knees weak and occupies my every fantasy.
I finally manage to exhale.
Yep. I’ve got this.
Matthias
My gaze locks on Maisy. Even though she should be too far away for my bear to scent, the aroma of caramel and cinnamon fills my nostrils. I’ve been ghost-smelling her ever since Maisy visited me earlier this month.
“Dr. Matthias! There you are!” Daisy strides up to us, Maisy in tow.
Maisy’s cheeks are flushed from the cold. Her blue eyes look bright against the pink of her skin.
I devour her with my stare, memorizing and documenting every detail of the way she looks right now.
Her new blonde highlights frame that heart-shaped face and cherubic cheeks.
The snowy mountain woods make a majestic background behind her.
I freeze the image in my mind to replay tonight when my cock is in my fist.
Control.
I need to get it under control. Good thing I took a dose of Moon Cure before I came today.
“Looks like you planned a perfect Winterfest, Daisy,” I say when they arrive, tearing my gaze from my beautiful mate’s face.
Maisy avoids my gaze; instead, she goes straight to Lana to say hello.
“This is the first annual Winterfest,” Daisy declares. “I’m going to make it a Bad Bear Mountain tradition.”
“Bad Bear loves a good party,” my brother, Teddy, observes. He’s got his hand on his mate’s pregnant belly. In a few months, she’s giving birth to triplets.
Another set of triplet bears on Bad Bear Mountain–fate help us all.
I barely survived helping raise Bern, Hutch, and Canyon.
My parents died in a car crash when I was young, and Winnie adopted me, then later, the twins, Everest and Axel, and, finally, the triplets.
Shifters have super healing capacities and are normally immune to injury or disease, so my parents’ deaths left me on edge.
Afraid to lose my new family. I ended up studying medicine as a way to control any potential circumstances.
Maybe it wasn’t fear but Fate that drove me to become a doctor because Winnie ended up with a rare shifter illness, which I was able to catch and diagnose early. I’ve managed to completely hide it from my brothers, inducing her into hibernation while I worked on a cure.
That left the responsibility of raising three wild teen bears mainly on me as the oldest. Not that the twins didn’t pitch in when they were in town.
“I’m all about a good party,” Lana agrees. “I say we come up with an excuse for one every month. It will build community.”
“Yes, when are we celebrating your 90th?” I ask Daisy. She thinks I don’t know she’s been 89 for at least three years.