Luke the Bear Shifter

Valley has one week left in Mill Creek before a bakery job two hours away and the fresh start she has been counting on.

Bear shifter Luke likes his life uncomplicated: hard work with his den, help where he is needed, and the weekly burger at The Amber Howl.

Then her scent reaches him in the line outside the tavern, and his bear knows instantly that the human baker is his mate.

A protective shifter—and the discovery that fated mates and magic burgers are real—was never part of Valley's plan, and Luke will not ask her to abandon the future she chose; if she leaves King Lake, he will go with her.

The longer she stays, the harder it is to decide whether leaving is still what she wants.