Bearly Breathing (Werebears of New Hampshire #1)(10)

“Hi Angie,” Sidney called out.

Angie hid behind Grace.

“We can ride tandem in the kayak,” he said.

Angie looked at the row of single person kayaks. “There aren’t any tandem kayaks.”

Sidney grinned. “You can sit on my lap.”

Grace hid her friend. “I think she’d rather swim.”

Angie popped out. “I’d rather drown.”

All three girls were wearing bikinis under their shorts and shirts. Connor shuddered at what the guys would do if they took them off. What would he do?

They each picked a kayak and Connor helped them push off into the water. The weather was nice for now. Sunny and hot but there were dark clouds in the distance. They looked like storm clouds. Connor was hoping they were headed the other way.

The river was warm and the sun was sparkling like diamonds off of the water. The trees were swaying in the light breeze and the birds were singing all around them. Hopefully the weather would hold up. He didn’t need another thing for the girls to complain about.

The girls were laughing and making fun of each other as their kayaks drifted around in the opposite direction of where they were trying to go.

Sidney’s kayak was barely over the water line. It was being dragged down by his tremendous weight, with the weight of the food and equipment not helping. Connor cursed under his breath. He should have taken the supplies.

Sidney was holding his paddle backwards. “Ladies, like this. Use your hips to move the kayak forward.” He was making a humping motion and his kayak was jerking back and forth unsteadily. He wasn’t moving anywhere.

Rebecca’s paddle slipped out of her hands and it drifted down the river. “No!” she cried out while laughing.

“I knew Becca would be the first one to lose her paddle,” Angie laughed.

Connor sprinted down the river in his kayak like a rocket. He snatched her paddle up and paddled back to her.

She was sitting in her kayak, helplessly floating away in the current. “My savior,” she said when he handed her the paddle. She took off her sunglasses and smiled at him, her eyes squinting in the bright sun.

A force kicked Connor in the chest and the world started to black out around him. Only Rebecca was in focus. She was a bright light against the dark surrounding. His whole body tightened and he couldn’t breathe. An unstoppable force was pulling him to her, melding him to her, bonding him to her.

His bear had bonded to her.

In a flash the force let go of its grasp on him and he flew backwards. The world came back into focus as he flipped over his kayak and plunged under water. He opened his eyes as he sank to the bottom of the riverbed and watched the shimmering, shaking reflection of his mate looking over her kayak with the sun behind her. He was in love.

But it wasn’t just love. He had bonded to her. When a werebear bonded to a mate, they bonded to their core. They became one. And life would never be the same.

Now all he had to do was get her to feel the same way.

He swam back to the surface and popped his head out of the water. Everyone was laughing their heads off.

“Are you okay?” Rebecca asked between laughs. It was the most beautiful sight he had ever seen. She was an angel.

“So that is what not to do,” Connor said, flipping his kayak over and hopping back in. He shook the water out of his hair.

Rebecca winked at him. “This is going to be fun.” She paddled to catch up to her friends.

His bear purred inside him making his whole body vibrate.

This is going to be interesting.





Rebecca was lying down on the warm sand beside Grace and Angie. They had stopped for lunch and were tanning on a beach, watching the three guys across the river swinging from a rope swing into the water.

“Angie! Angie!” Sidney yelled from on top of the rock. He was holding the rope in his hands. “Watch this!”

Angie shook her head and smiled. “What is with this guy?”

“Don’t pretend that you don’t like it,” Grace said.

“I don’t.”

Grace snorted. “Please. You’ve always been with the guy who organizes the fantasy football drafts. You’re telling me you’ve never fantasized about being with the football player?”


Angie shook her head but never took her eyes off him. “I like smart guys.”

“Sure, to date,” Grace said. “But to f*ck…that’s different.”

Angie didn’t answer. She just stared as Sidney held onto the rope swing with his jacked muscles. He let go of the rope in the air, did a flip and landed on his back in the water with a loud smack. He popped up in the water with a look of pain on his face.

“Well done!” Angie said. “A natural Michael Flops.”

Sidney grimaced and doggy paddled back to the rock.

Edwin grabbed the rope to jump next. Grace slid off her t-shirt and leaned back on the sand in her bikini.

The rope vibrated in Edwin’s hand as he stared at Grace from across the river. He wouldn’t take his eyes off her.

“Is he having a seizure?” Rebecca asked, lowering her sunglasses, trying to see better. His body was curling in on itself and his arms were shaking. Connor slapped him on the back of the head and was saying something in his ear.

“What?” Rebecca gasped under her breath as she swear she saw a flash of brown fur spring out of his skin. It was gone as fast as it came. It must’ve been a trick of the light.