Rancher Bear: BBW Bear Shifter Romance (Bear Haven Book 2) by Terry Bolryder Page A

his lips, pulling him down for another kiss even as he pulled away.
    Was she really so in love with the man that she didn’t care if Seth wanted her? That her want could be enough?
    He’d been so stupid. He’d been her experiment. Nothing more. A notch in her bedpost before she could go back to her stupid, rich fiancé.
    She’d never promised anything. She’d only said she wouldn’t go running back. And Jesse had been too sure that Seth wouldn’t come after her.
    Well, he’d been wrong, and now he’d paid the ultimate price, because nothing was more painful than watching your mate with another male. Watching her happy with one. Pleased with one.
    He let out a roar and tried not to shift as he ran down the steps that led out of the lodge.
    “Jesse! Wait!” a feminine voice called after him.
    The desperation in her voice almost made him pause, but he didn’t. He was too hurt. He’d spent the whole day trying to win her over, trying to show her what he could do. Trying to gently woo her. He was done with that.
    And she was apparently done with him.
    “Jesse! Stop! It’s not what you think.”
    Oh, yes, it fucking was. It was exactly what he thought. And even if it wasn’t, the bear in him didn’t care. It was tearing out of his skin, feeling like it could kill him.
    He heard her little footsteps running quickly, trying to catch up, and he slowed slightly just outside the lodge as he felt her slam into his back, wrapping her arms around his waist.
    He pulled her off of him and held her out, staring down with angry eyes. “You are my mate. How could you?”
    She blinked up at him, green eyes welling with tears. “What do you mean I’m your mate? We were taking it slow. You don’t own me. If you think you do, after just one night, you’re no better than him.”
    His kept his touch gentle, but his tone was harsh, hard. He didn’t like it, but it was just how it was. After a day of trying harder than he ever had to win a woman, having her turn her back and go to another man…
    He’d been thinking he’d have to rescue her. Rescue her. What a joke. The image of her pulling Seth’s head down to hers, smiling, went through his mind, and he let out another roar of anger as he pulled away and started walking.
    Bonnie followed him, pleading, but he couldn’t listen to her. He needed space.
    The next thing he knew, Shane was walking out, grabbing him by the arms, trying to hold him as Jesse thrashed, trying to get free.
    “Calm down,” Shane said. “Just calm the fuck down. What the hell is going on?”
    Jesse turned away from him, and Bonnie caught up, tears on her cheeks. Pain lashed through him at seeing her sad, but he couldn’t do anything about it right now.
    “It was just a kiss,” she said. “I was just showing him he didn’t want me. I didn’t mean anything by it. Besides, we aren’t together. We aren’t official…” She trailed off as Shane and Jesse went strangely quiet.
    She looked at their eyes, Shane’s solemn, Jesse’s fiery, and comprehension seemed to dawn as she put a slender hand over her mouth.
    Her green eyes went impossibly wide and she opened her mouth and closed it, at a loss for words. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I… How do bears mate, exactly?”
    “Sex, without protection,” Shane said bluntly. “So, yes, you were together. But this knucklehead should have told you. But right now, you have to let him go. His animal is going crazy.”
    She took a step back, and Jesse hated the betrayal in her eyes. This wasn’t how he wanted to tell her.
    He wanted to take her, slow and gentle, tell her about claiming, and make it the most romantic experience of her life.
    Of course, that was before she was willing to kiss another man just to make a point. Whatever point that was.
    “I… Fine,” she said, continuing to back up. “He can go wherever he wants. He might have claimed me, but I didn’t say I was his.” Her hands balled into tight, pale fists, and