Promised to the Bear (When Worlds Collide #2)

Prologue 1-Rosalind

“Rosalind? Come on inside.”

Daniel Devlin—Head Enforcer of the Barvale Clan—stood in the doorway of his office, broad shoulders filling the frame like the living wall he was.

Even relaxed, the man radiated authority. Power. Bear.

I rose from the bench outside his office and wiped my palms on my jeans, suddenly aware of every breath, every heartbeat.

This was it. My first official assignment as part of the Barvale Clan Enforcer Security Unit.

No pressure or anything.

Sure, I was sweating.

Anyone who claimed they wouldn’t be was either lying or suicidal.

Daniel Devlin was a legend. He was the Head Enforcer for the Barvale Clan.

The Bears who served under him were legends.

Barvale Enforcers didn’t just protect the Clan—they were the reason Barvale endured.

I stepped inside and shut the door behind me.

The office smelled faintly of pine, leather, and something sharp beneath it—old power, well earned.

Framed photographs lined the walls.

Generations of Bears.

Leaders. Warriors. Family.

Most Shifter Clans still lived in the eighteenth century when it came to their females.

Soft voices, softer expectations.

Protected.

Sheltered.

And the more barbaric thought of them as nothing but breeding stock.

Grrr.

My Bear really didn’t like that thought.

And Barvale wasn’t perfect—but it was better.

And I sure as heck wasn’t fragile.

I had a seven-hundred-pound Black Bear living inside me, coiled tight and patient beneath my skin.

She was strength.

Instinct. Fury.

She was everything the world pretended females weren’t allowed to be.

My human body might be soft in places—curves where muscle didn’t live—but I stood five foot ten and weighed a solid one ninety-five.

No, not all of it was muscle, sure, but enough of it was.

And the rest? That was power, too.

Endurance. Balance.

A body built to survive.

That was what happened when you were the only daughter of an ex–Army Ranger and your mother died young.

My father raised me like the son he never had.

He taught me how to fight.

Not to flirt or pretend I was weak to assuage the fragile male ego.

He taught me how to stand my ground. How to take a hit and give one back harder.

Now was my chance to make him proud.

“I see you filled out everything correctly,” Devlin said, glancing at the tablet on his desk.

I nodded.

“And your father trained you in combat?”

I nodded again.

His eyebrows lifted slowly.

“You know, I once had the chance to fight your father in the training rings when I was younger.”

My lips twitched.

“You did?”

“Seventeen. Cocky as fuck,” he said with a grin. “Your dad handed me my ass in front of my father and three elders. Taught me a lesson I never forgot.”

I laughed softly, warmth blooming in my chest.

That sounded like my dad.

“So?” I asked, unable to keep the edge of hope out of my voice. “Do I get the job?”

Devlin studied me for a long moment.

Not assessing my body.

Not my gender.

He was looking at my Bear.

“I don’t see why not,” he said at last. “In fact, we’ve got a rather delicate situation I think you’d be perfect for.”

My spine straightened instantly.

My Bear stirred, lifting her head.

“Yes,” I said, leaning forward. “Absolutely.”

All my life, I’d dreamed of serving the Clan. Of being useful. Of protecting something bigger than myself.

I wanted to matter the way my father mattered—to his unit, to his family, to the people he saved.

What I never told anyone was that I had other dreams, too.

Ones I’d tucked away long ago.

Dreams from when I was little and my mother would brush my hair at night, humming softly, telling me stories she swore weren’t just fairy tales.

Stories about fated mates.

About love that burned brighter than fear.

“Will I grow up and have a mate, Mommy?” I’d asked once, my voice barely more than a whisper.

“Of course you will, sweetheart,” she’d said, kissing my forehead. “You’ll have a mate the Fates chose just for you. And a family. Just like ours.”

I loved my mother fiercely—but I never told anyone else about our talks or the dreams I still held deep in my heart because of them.

See, most of the males in the Clan saw me as a sister.

Or worse.

A sparring buddy.

Devlin slid the tablet across the desk toward me.

“Your assignment involves a human. A civilian male.”

My Bear growled softly, curious now.

“We believe he’s close to learning more than he should about our world,” Devlin continued. “Your job is simple. Keep an eye on him. Protect him if necessary. And make sure he stays human-clueless.”

A human.

I nodded. Professional. Focused.

But somewhere deep inside my chest, my Bear stirred again—uneasy, alert, as if fate itself had just shifted its weight.

“His name is Honor D’Amato,” Daniel said.

The moment the name left his mouth, something inside me shifted.

Not a sound. Not a movement.

A pulse—deep and sudden—like a drumbeat echoing through my chest.

“Honor D’Amato,” I repeated slowly, testing the weight of it on my tongue.

“Yes. He’s the older brother of a newly changed she-Bear in our Clan.”

My head snapped up. “Sir?”

Questions crowded my mouth, tripping over one another.

Newly changed Bears were rarely heard of.

Even still, what I knew was they were volatile. Raw. Dangerous—to themselves and everyone around them.

Daniel leaned back in his chair, fingers steepled.

“It appears a dormant Shifter gene was activated when Hope D’Amato met her mate.”

“Mate?” I breathed.

“Miles Orson.”

My brows shot up. “But he’s Enforcer Security.”

“That’s right,” Daniel said with a nod. “Grizzly Shifter. Solid. Loyal. Now a full member in good standing of the Barvale Clan—along with his mate, Hope.”

That explained the uptick in patrol rotations.

The increased security near town.

“And her brother?” I asked.

Daniel’s gaze sharpened.

“Is back in Barvale.”

A ripple of unease moved through me.

“And he’s fully human.”

“As far as we know,” Daniel confirmed. “Which makes him a problem.”

My stomach tightened.

Hope was still learning to control her Bear.

Freshly awakened Shifters struggled with scent control, instinctive reactions, and emotional surges.

A human sibling in close proximity could pose all kinds of risks the supernatural world at large couldn’t afford.

“He can’t know about us, Rosalind,” Daniel said quietly. “Not yet. Maybe not ever.”

I nodded, even as my chest felt tight.

“So you want me to monitor him, sir?”

“Protect him,” Daniel corrected. “Discreetly. If Honor connects the dots—if he figures out what his sister really is—it could destabilize her. And compromise us.”

I understood. Completely.

And yet, my Bear stirred.

Not restless.

Alert.

She rose within me, slow and deliberate, eyes burning bright in the dark of my mind. Focused. Fixated.

On a human male she’d never seen.

On a name that sounded like virtue and felt like strength.

Honor.

Curiosity hit me then—sharp and undeniable—like something ancient reaching out from the depths of my blood.

Not instinct.

More like recognition.

For the first time in my life, I felt it—the unmistakable tension of fate drawing tight, stretching thin, as if some promise made long ago was finally being tested.

Waiting.

Poised to snap.

My Bear rose inside me, ready for it.

But my human side?

Well, that side wasn’t so sure.