Brave Bear: BBW Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance (BRIDES fur BEARS Book 2) (2 page)

“Happy birthday,
sweetheart,” Serena said, bending to kiss her daughter's head.

Ashley yawned as they walked
home. She clutched her precious doll tightly and murmured something
about having a birthday party someday.

Serena winced. She had never
thrown a birthday party for Ashley before. It was difficult enough
paying the rent and saving up for the occasional treat and shopping
trip. She had no one to help her. Her parents were gone and she
didn't have any siblings or close relatives.

She was only twenty-five, but
she didn't go to pubs and clubs like other single, carefree young
women in their twenties. She was a young, struggling single mom but
she never, ever felt burdened by her daughter. Ashley was her baby
girl, the light of her life.

Serena stared at her daughter
and chewed her lip. What exactly was Ashley? Her paranormal powers
seemed to be emerging. She was quite sure that Ashley wasn't a
shifter, a vamp, or even half fae.

At the back of Serena's mind,
she suspected what Ashley was. Would her sweet, loving little girl
turn...dangerous as she grew older? Would she be despised, deplored
or hunted by the other paranormals?

Serena gripped Ashley's
small, warm hand and swore that she would keep her little girl safe
always.

Serena pulled her daughter
closer to her as they walked down the quiet street. The shops were
all closed for the night, and the sounds of traffic faded behind them
as they turned into a small lane.

“Come on, sweetheart,
let's walk faster. It's past your bedtime,” Serena urged. The
echo of their footsteps sounded too loud and ominous.

“But Mummy, I'm tired.”
Ashley pouted and dragged her feet.

“Let's just try to get
home quickly, darling,” Serena said, glancing behind her.
“It's getting late.”

They were rounding the corner
when Serena saw the flash of a blade. Before she could scream,
Ashley was yanked away from her.

A man had his hand clamped
over Ashley's mouth and was holding a knife to her throat. Serena
felt the point of a knife at her back as a male voice snarled in her
ear, “Don't make a sound or we'll slit the girl's throat.”

“P-please don't hurt
her...” Serena stuttered, trying to turn round to see her
attacker.

The man grabbed a fistful of
her hair and slammed her against the wall.

“Shut up and hand over
your purse,” the man said.

Serena gasped. The envelope
that her manager had handed her this evening was tucked into a side
pocket of her bag. It contained her final wages and she was going to
use it to pay the rent. The money would keep a roof over their heads
and put food on the table for a couple more weeks.

“Please...”
Serena pleaded. “Please don't do this...”

“The bitch is begging.”
The other man laughed and tapped his blade against Ashley's cheek.

Serena glanced at her
daughter, trying to reassure her with her eyes.

But Ashley wasn't looking at
her. She was staring intently at the man who was holding Serena
against the wall.

“Don't hurt my Mummy,”
Ashley said. Her voice was small but she didn't sound scared.

Serena shook her head subtly
at her daughter.
Don't talk to them. Don't make a sound. These
men are dangerous.

But Ashley continued staring
at the man. Her dark eyes seemed to glow faintly. “Let my
Mummy go,” she repeated.

CHAPTER
FOUR

“Oh, we'll let your
Mummy go,” the man said with a mocking laugh. “After
we're finished with her. Your Mummy is a nice piece of ass. She's
one hot Mama!” The man jerked his head at his accomplice.
“Get the kid away, Percy. I can't get it up if she's watching
me with those creepy eyes.”

Percy cursed. “Just do
what you have to do, Sal. Stick your dick in her and get the money!”

Serena whimpered as Sal
kicked her legs apart. “Don't make a sound, bitch, or your kid
gets it.”

Sal hitched her skirt up to
her waist and pulled her panties down. Serena heard Sal yanking down
his zipper.

“No...” she
wheezed. “No, please...”

When Sal chuckled and
squeezed the back of her neck to hold her still, Serena knew that he
wasn't going to let her go. He was going to do it.

“Ashley, close your
eyes. Please baby, just close your eyes,” Serena begged
tearfully. “Don't look. Don't be afraid. Mummy will be okay.
I promise you...”

Serena gasped as Sal grabbed
her hair and slammed her head against the wall. “I said, shut
up! Or we'll stick the knife in your daughter!”

Sal smashed her head against
the wall again. Serena cried out in pain and saw lights at the back
of her eyelids. Serena felt her knees buckle and as her body began
to sag, she thought she heard a scream.

“Baby? Ashley!”
she cried, her hands reaching out blindly. “Please don't hurt
my baby! She's just a little girl! Ashley!”

She finally managed to open
her eyes and focus. What she saw made her scrabble back in shock.

The man who was holding
Ashley was rolling on the ground, screaming in agony. He was
burning, literally burning. His whole body was consumed by flames.
His clothes were on fire, and he was screaming as he flailed and
rolled on the ground.

“Oh God!” Serena
gasped. “Ashley!”

Ashley was rushing at Sal,
her small hands outstretched. Once she touched his pants, his
clothes ignited. Angry red flames leaped and writhed all around him.
Sal bellowed in pain and careened into a dumpster, setting the
contents alight.

Serena ran to her daughter
and scooped her up in her arms. “Ashley! Oh, baby...”

“They were bad men,
Mummy,” Ashley said, burying her face in Serena's neck. “And
he...he's a bad wolf!” Ashley pointed a shaking finger at Sal.

Serena heard running
footsteps and shouts as the men's screams attracted the attention of
passers-by and the residents of a nearby block. She thought she
heard the sound of a police siren in the distance as she stumbled
away with Ashley.

Serena carried her daughter
and ran. “Don't worry, baby, we'll be fine,” she assured
Ashley who was sobbing into her shoulder. “Mummy will protect
you. We'll be okay. We're okay...” she repeated like a
mantra.

When she was a few blocks
away, her legs finally gave out and Serena slumped wearily against a
wall. She hugged Ashley and thumbed away the girl's tears.

“I lost Donna,”
Ashley sniffed. “I'm sorry, Mummy...”

“Donna?” For a
second, Serena was confused. “Oh, your doll. Never mind,
darling. You were very brave back there. So very brave.”
Serena held her daughter's face in both hands and kissed her
forehead. “You...you saved me, from those bad men.”

Ashley nodded. “They
were very bad.”

“How did you...”
Serena took a shaky breath to compose herself. “What did you
do, sweetheart? How did you make those men burn?”

“I got scared, and
mad,” Ashley said, starting to cry again. “I just pushed
them, and they started to burn. Am I bad, Mummy?”

“No! No, you're my
good little girl. You're my hero, you saved me. Come on,”
Serena said, forcing a smile to her face. “We're going home to
pack.”

“Pack? Are we going
away?”

“Yes.”

“Where are we going,
Mummy?”

Serena gulped. “I...I
don't know, yet.”

CHAPTER
FIVE

Serena stuffed all her
important documents and some clothes into a huge backpack. She took
one last glance around her small apartment and closed the door. She
left the key, together with the month's rent in an envelope in her
landlady's mailbox and looked up at Mrs Huang's window. “I'm
so sorry I can't say goodbye,” she whispered. “I can't
drag you into this. I...I'll miss you. Very, very much.”

Ashley was dazed and
exhausted, and didn't protest when Serena took her hand and led her
towards the bus stop. She would take a bus to the bus station, and
just hop on the first bus out of the city.

She had no idea where she
would end up but she just couldn't let them take Ashley away.

Ashley had set those two men
on fire. There might be witnesses and those two men, Percy and Sal,
would be able to identify Ashley and say that she was the one who had
tried to kill them. Those scum would have robbed her and raped her
but now, they would twist the facts and paint themselves as the
victims of a vicious attack. They would say that there was a
dangerous child on the loose. A paranormal who couldn't control her
paranormal powers.

No, she couldn't let anyone
take Ashley away. The authorities and government agencies might come
for her. Her little girl might be locked up, investigated and
experimented upon.

Ashley's paranormal powers
were highly unusual. If her powers were deemed to be dangerous, she
would be destroyed. But if the authorities felt that her powers
could be used, she would be trained and weaponized. Her little girl
might become a military weapon for the government. She had heard of
young shifters being drafted into a special unit in the military for
black ops.

Serena didn't want that for
her daughter. She wanted Ashley to have a normal, happy life. She
wanted her little girl to meet a nice man and build a lovely family
and give her lots of rambunctious grandchildren.

Serena almost laughed at
herself. She was only twenty-five and already she was thinking of
being a grandmother.

But...it would be nice to
have someone sweet and caring in her life. She had been alone for so
long. She had Ashley, but it wasn't the same as having a partner who
could truly share her ups and downs, joys and sorrows, and be there
for her always.

Serena sighed and shook her
head. There was no time for such wishful thinking. She had to focus
on the present and get her daughter away.

Serena muttered some soothing
words as they stood at the bus stop. They were both wearing faded
old hoodies, and Serena pulled the hood over Ashley's silky black
hair.

Ashley rubbed her eyes and
yawned, but she didn't complain at all. The little girl had a small
but bulging haversack on her back as well, but she bore her load
stoically.

Serena drew her daughter to
her and held her close. She should have known. She had looked into
her little girl's eyes and she had seen the flames. The same dark
flames that she had dreamed about on the night Ashley was conceived.

But she had chosen to ignore
it. She didn't want to think about Ashley's father.

That night had been so
surreal. She had been working as a waitress, and he had waited for
her until she finished work.

Then he walked her back to
her place. He was smooth, suave, seductive, and she had been...in
awe. No, not in awe, in thrall.

She had been unable to resist
him. Her body was just burning for him. She could remember his
hypnotic, black eyes, and the way his skin felt. His smooth skin
felt very hot, like someone with a high fever. And when he was
taking her on her bed, she had glimpsed ghostly flames dancing around
them.

She had dismissed all this as
just figments of her naive, girlish imagination. She was just twenty
then, and she had just lost both her parents. She had no family and
she was all alone. It was nice not to be alone for one night, to
have someone hold her and love her.

She never saw Ashley's father
again. He was gone before dawn. But he had left her something.

Something so precious.

Serena knew that Ashley's
father wasn't human, and she suspected what he was. But she didn't
want to admit it to herself.

Serena kissed her little
girl's head and whispered fiercely, “I love you. You are my
daughter.”
No matter what
.

Ashley glanced up and said
gravely, “We should go, Mummy.”

A second later, Serena heard
the wail of police sirens. Panicking, Serena grabbed her daughter's
hand and ran to the edge of the curb. She waved her arms,
desperately trying to flag down a cab but none of the cabs would
stop. Ashley began to cry softly.

A large SUV drove by and
lurched to a stop a few feet away from her. The brake lights flashed
and the driver rolled down the windows.

“M'am, are you okay?”
The driver leaned over and asked with concern. He was a
good-looking young man with short, black hair and deep brown eyes.
He frowned when he saw Ashley sobbing. “Is your daughter sick?
Do you need to get to the hospital...”

“No! No hospital! We
just need a ride,” Serena blurted out.

“Sure. I'm driving out
of the city. Where...”

“Out of the city is
fine!”

The man stared at her for a
beat before jerking his head towards the backseat. “Come on
then.”