Her Reluctant Bear: A Hot Paranormal Fantasy Saga with Witches, Werewolves, and Werebears (Weres and Witches of Silver Lake Book 5) Read Online Free Page A

to come first. Clearly, her struggle for success had blinded her to what was important in life.
    As she pulled in front of his one story brick house, his white SUV sat in the drive. Jillian smiled as she remembered how happy he’d been when he bought his new car. He’d added the black wheel well trim, joking that his car was more of a white tiger than he was. He had even kept his identity secret from his werebear partner, Kalan Murdoch. As far as Dalton knew, only wolf and bear shifters existed in this town, and he didn’t want to be the odd man out ever again.
    As soon as she cut power to the engine, the tension in her shoulders unknotted. She’d made it. I’m safe, for now at least .
    Leaving her suitcase in the car, she stepped into the brutally cold air and shivered. Looking over her shoulder one last time, Jillian rushed to the front door and knocked. Shifting her weight back and forth to keep warm, she rubbed her arms. Voices sounded and then the door opened.
    “Jillian?” her brother said with wide eyes. “What are you…doing here? Not that I’m not glad to see you. Never mind, come in, come in.”
    For a cop, he sure was tongue-tied. The moment he closed the door, he wrapped his arms around her in the best and warmest embrace ever.
    “Someone killed Dalia,” she blurted into his shoulder, her throat clogging at the words.
    Dalton held her at arm’s length, his brows pinched. “Your college roommate?” She nodded. “Come sit down.” Dalton escorted her to the living room.
    Just speaking those three terrible words unleashed the horror all over again. To make those images stop, she focused on his handsome face. Whereas she took after their mom with her fair skin and honey colored hair, Dalton had olive skin and medium brown hair like their dad. Their father had been way too handsome, and so was Dalton. “They call you Hollywood around here like they did back home?”
    He grunted a response.
    “Yup,” someone chimed in with a smile.
    Whoa. She hadn’t even seen the other man there. Showed how stressed she was. While he wore the same sheriff’s department uniform as Dalton, this man had shoulder length light brown hair. Unless he was working undercover, she was pretty sure he wouldn’t have been able to keep that look at the LAPD.
    Dalton squeezed her shoulder then let go, and the loss of support made her heart hitch.
    “This is Kalan Murdoch, my partner at the department.”
    Shake his hand, her inner voice nudged her. “Nice to meet you,” she said, finally remembering her manners. “Dalton has said nice things about you.”
    The men exchanged glances. Apparently, Kalan was surprised by that comment. “Good to know.”
    She was glad his partner was also a shifter. Even though she and Dalton had emailed back and forth every few weeks, he had never mentioned what kind of shifter Kalan was. That was most likely because Dalton had never mentioned his breed to Kalan.
    “Can I get you something to drink?” Kalan asked, seemingly very comfortable in her brother’s house.
    “How about a glass of wine?”
    “You got it.” Kalan walked all of ten feet into the open kitchen situated on the wall opposite the front door. The living room was at the front of the house, and given there was a door on the west side of the room, she figured that was where the bedrooms were located. Dalton told her he’d rented the place furnished, and it showed. The owner had to be over eighty. The place had white walls, a brown sofa, two brown chairs, and a brown and black rug. The kitchen counter top was beige Formica, and the appliances looked tired.
    “Here ya go.” Kalan handed her a glass of red wine.
    “Thanks.” She sat on the sofa while Dalton, who looked cute in his brown uniform, sat across from her. Kalan took the other chair.
    “Tell me what you know,” Dalton said, all evidence of compassion gone. He was in his cop mode—exactly where she needed him to be.
    She went through the whole story about Dalia