His to Seek Read online

  His to Seek

  Bears of Grizzly Ridge

  Elena Aitken

  Contents

  Reader Note

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  About the Author

  Also by Elena Aitken

  Reader Note

  You might not know…this book (and the entire series) is a little different than my usual contemporary romances.

  But sometimes you have to try something a little different, and that was the case for me when it came to writing ‘the bears’.

  I had so much fun with this series at a time in my life when that’s what I needed—fun. So much fun in fact that I needed to revisit Grizzly Ridge with four more sexy stories!!

  I hope you have as much fun reading these new stories!

  AND…don’t forget to join my mailing list where you’ll be the first to hear about new stories, sales and promotions and giveaways!

  You can join me here —>

  https://elenaaitken.com/newsletter/

  Chapter One

  It was a hot, sunny day in the Bahamas, the kind of day where you want to play hooky, sink your toes in the sand, grab a good book, and let the sun warm your face while you forget about the world.

  Exactly the kind of day that Natalia Jackson had come to the Bahamas to enjoy. But she’d already spent too long avoiding reality and it was time to go back. After all, she’d promised her family she’d be there for the holidays, especially her cousin Kira, who was heavily pregnant with twins and barely able to move anymore. And with Thanksgiving almost upon them, Nat was running out of excuses to stay away.

  She paid her cab driver and with her small suitcase in hand, gave one last look to the beautiful blue sky above, before she made her way inside the airport. Her flight was scheduled to leave in a little less than an hour. Just enough time to check in, buy a magazine, and board. Natalia had mastered the art of spending the least amount of time as she possibly could in the airport. For someone who liked to travel as much as she did, she hated the actual act of traveling.

  But it was a small price to pay to move from place to place as freely as she did. It had been just over three years since she’d started up her online marketing business, and started making enough money that she could pack up everything she owned in a carry-on-sized suitcase and travel while running her business from her laptop.

  She was living the dream.

  Almost.

  Her eyes landed on a couple at the bar. Honeymooners, probably. They couldn’t take their hands off each other and had that new kind of love that made everyone around them jealous.

  She shouldn’t stare, but she couldn’t seem to look away. And then there it was, the familiar feeling of loneliness that crept in during the long nights while she laid awake night after night in different hotel rooms in different cities around the world. She traveled to experience new things, see the world, and find…what?

  If anyone bothered to ask, her answer was always the same: “Life’s short. I want to live it to the fullest and see everything I can see. There’s a lot of world out there.”

  It was all true, too. But there was one thing she wasn’t saying. As much as she loved her life and wouldn’t trade it, more and more every day, she couldn’t help but think about what it would be like to find someone to share it with her.

  Just like her cousins and brother back home in Jackson Valley and Grizzly Ridge. They’d all seemed to find their fated mates, the highest form of connection for a bear shifter. A love like no other. A connection so strong you simply couldn’t breathe without the other person.

  The idea of a mate, let alone a fated one, used to make Nat laugh. At the same time, it secretly scared the hell out of her. After all, why would you want to be so dependent on someone else that you needed them to simply function? It seemed insane.

  And also amazing.

  But she didn’t need to think about that now. Her phone chirped with a text message.

  Are you really coming home?

  She smiled at Kira’s text. They’d been coming more and more frequently since Kira had been put on bed rest after a terrible scare with her pregnancy. Instead of texting her back, Nat pressed the button to call her.

  “Are you really coming back?” Kira answered on the first ring.

  Nat laughed. “I am. And hello to you, too.”

  “Seriously, you’re at the airport?”

  “I am.”

  “Oh, thank God! You know the doctors put me on bed rest, right? I’m barely allowed to move!”

  “That’s a good thing.”

  “It is not!” Nat could almost see her spirited cousin rolling her eyes on the other end of the phone. She knew bed rest would be driving Kira crazy. “But it’s for the best,” Kira added, in a resigned voice. “I don’t want anything to happen to these little peanuts.”

  “Of course you don’t. I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you. I can’t imagine how scary that was for you.”

  It had been only just over a week since Kira had collapsed at their family home at Grizzly Ridge. From what her brother told her, it had been very scary for everyone when Kira was rushed to the hospital down the mountain. Shifter pregnancies were hard. And Kira was pregnant with twins. Bi-shifter twins. She was a grizzly. Her mate was a wolf. There was no precedence for how that would turn out. And so far, it had created a very difficult pregnancy that was wearing on Kira by the day.

  “I’m coming home. I promise I’ll sit with you and tell you stories and—”

  “Stop it.” Kira laughed. “No one wants to waste their life sitting next to my bedside. Besides, they got me a doctor-approved wheelchair. As long as I basically don’t do anything strenuous so I can keep these babies in to cook a little while longer, I’m good.”

  “Well, I’m still coming home,” Nat said. “I promised.”

  “Good, because we’ve been very busy lining up suitable mates for you.”

  Nat rolled her eyes. She knew her brother Ryker and her cousins all wanted her to experience the kind of love they had. Which was part of the reason she’d been getting the almost constant barrage of emails and texts asking her when she was going to settle down. Or worse, the promise of the setups that had started coming in the last few weeks.

  Normally, Natalia loved visiting with her family, but the last time she’d been at Grizzly Ridge for her cousin Axel’s wedding—where, ironically, her own brother Ryker had found his mate—her family had really seemed to kick it into high gear with their mission to help her find the one.

  She’d agreed to return for Thanksgiving, but the last thing she wanted was to meet any of the “He’s perfect for you!” guys her family and friends had been lining up for her to meet when she got there.

  “No setups.” She groaned, but Nat wasn’t stupid. There would be no getting out of it.

  “Oh no, you’re going to love—”

  “Hey,” she interrupted her cousin. “I really have to go. They’re calling my flight.” It was a lie, and maybe they both knew it, but she really didn’t want to have that particular conversation right then. “I’ll see you soon, okay?”

  Before Kira could answer, Nat disconnected the call, exhaled sharply, and shook her head. There was no help for it. Her family meant well. Besides, it wasn’t the right time to think about it because she really did have
a plane to catch. But first, a bottle of water and a gossip magazine to lose herself in for the next few hours before she faced her family and all the love they shared that more and more she wished was hers.

  Damn it.

  Really, she needed to stop thinking about love or partners, or bloody mates.

  Nat browsed the wall of magazines and her eyes instinctively landed on the gossip magazines she generally gravitated toward. Splashed on every cover were wedding pictures of Hollywood’s latest it couple. She shook her head and looked right past them.

  Maybe a business mag instead?

  Natalia moved over to the next shelf and grabbed the first one she saw that didn’t have a couple on it. She wasn’t even going to try to pretend that the gorgeous man on the cover, with his ice-blue eyes, wasn’t the reason she held Business Time in her hands.

  She paid for her purchases and found a quiet corner near her gate to wait for her flight to be called.

  “Thirty Under Thirty” was the lead, and it didn’t take Natalia long to find the story, and the corresponding picture of the sexy man on the cover.

  Cyrus Steele.

  Damn.

  He was listed as the fourth most successful American under thirty, the son of a business magnate in Alaska who’d just inherited billions of dollars of his father’s money.

  Trust fund baby.

  The article listed a number of philanthropic activities he was involved in, so at least he wasn’t a completely spoiled brat.

  Natalia felt bad the minute she let the thought cross her mind. He was probably a nice guy. Just because he had family money didn’t mean that he was a bad guy. She flipped back to the cover of the magazine and stared into his eyes. He really was handsome.

  No.

  More than handsome.

  Sexy in a yes, please I’ll have some of that right now kind of way. It had been a long time since Nat had been attracted to someone, but this man…oh, she’d definitely end her dry spell for him. She laughed out loud at herself and the ridiculous way she was thinking about a man she’d never met. Especially when she hadn’t even finished the article that had been written about him.

  Natalia turned back to the piece and read a little further. He was from Alaska, and according to the journalist, Cyrus was a bit of a reluctant billionaire and preferred to spend his time as far out of the limelight as possible, in the back woods of Alaska, where he enjoyed rock climbing, back country camping, fishing, and hunting.

  A mountain man.

  The article mentioned a number of the charities, funds, and initiatives he was involved in. She scanned a little more until she got to a comment about how Cyrus Steele was one of America’s most sought-after bachelors and now, more than anything, he hated the attention. Nat shrugged. An interesting twist.

  Poor little rich boy.

  She shook her head and closed the magazine before she read it all. She still had a few hours to kill on the flight ahead. Which, according to the overhead announcement, was just about to start boarding.

  Nat gathered up her things and was just about to get in line to board when she saw him for the first time.

  He was tall. Very tall. The magazine article had not mentioned that. Nor had it mentioned how incredibly massive his muscular shoulders were, or how his very presence filled the space, making it much smaller than it was. She couldn’t look anywhere but at him as he walked toward her.

  Well, not toward her but in her direction.

  He wore worn jeans, a T-shirt, and a baseball cap pulled low. Sunglasses hid his eyes, but there was no doubt that it was Cyrus Steele, and he was trying desperately to keep a low profile. A few moments later, when Natalia watched a small group of women run up to him, all but throwing themselves at him in their flimsy sundresses, she was absolutely certain of it.

  Cyrus Steele, the fourth wealthiest “Thirty Under Thirty” and one of America’s most eligible bachelors, was there in the airport with her, and he needed rescuing.

  He didn’t have to fly commercial. He had enough money in his pocket at that very moment to charter a private plane to take him back to the States, and then he wouldn’t have to deal with being recognized or having women—and sometimes men—throw themselves at him shamelessly. He wouldn’t have to worry about trying to fly under the radar, as if he ever could actually accomplish that with his six-foot-seven frame.

  But he wouldn’t.

  Cyrus Steele would never spend money unnecessarily or extravagantly on himself as long as he could use that money to help those less fortunate. Which meant unless he absolutely couldn’t help it, he would never charter a plane for himself when there was another option.

  Even if it meant fending off the continual intrusion of the press who seemed hell-bent on ruining his life by publishing every single thing they could about him. Even if it had nothing to do with the good he was trying to do in the world. Hell, especially if it had nothing to do with the work he was doing. The press seemed much more interested in his personal life—of which he had none—than anything else.

  It made him crazy how nobody actually cared about the real issues. Who gave a shit whether he was dating anyone or whether he liked cream in his coffee?

  “Cyrus?” A female voice giggled, intruding on his thoughts. A moment later, it was joined by at least three more voices.

  “Mr. Steele?”

  “Are you Cyrus Steele?”

  “You are, aren’t you?”

  “There’s no way it’s him!”

  “It’s totally him.”

  Cyrus took a deep breath and shook his head. His business manager and close friend, Phillip Malone, would love this. He kept telling Cyrus the attention would die down and he should enjoy it while he could. But Cyrus wasn’t having it.

  Before he could speak, one of the women—who looked a little too young, too sunburned, and too party animal for his taste—spoke again.

  “Take off your sunglasses,” she demanded. “Cyrus Steele has those amazing eyes.”

  One of the other women swooned next to him and he shook his head again. There was no way he was taking off his glasses.

  Dammit.

  He never should have agreed to the interview for Business Time. But he’d never considered for a minute that they’d put him and his eyes on the cover or turn him into some kind of celebrity.

  “Sorry, ladies.” He tried to keep his voice friendly. “I’m afraid you have the wrong man.”

  He wasn’t a good liar, despite the secrets he had to keep about who he really was: an alpha Kodiak bear shifter from Alaska and head of his clan. Not exactly the kind of news that would be received well by the outside world. Which was why he needed to keep his glasses on. The truth was always written all over his face and could be seen clearly in his eyes.

  “No way.”

  “You’re him.”

  “Why are you in the Bahamas? Are you here alone?”

  Cyrus tried to take a step backward, but they had him cornered. He glanced around, but there was no one there to save him. His trip to Nassau had been a solo venture to check out a new company that had set up a new installation of solar panels on the far end of the island. Their mission was to use solar power to desalinate the sea water and provide fresh drinking water to some of the less fortunate communities. It was a technology that could prove to be very powerful and useful all over the world, and one Cyrus was deeply interested in.

  “Come on,” one of the women pleaded as she started to reach for his hat. “Can we take a selfie with you?”

  “Sorry, ladies, I think you have the wrong man.” The intoxicating scent of salt, sand, and sea air with just the slightest hint of lime hit him hard enough that he had to take a staggering step backward. A new, dark-haired woman—tall, with all kinds of curves in all the right places—pushed easily through the throng of women and slid her arm through his.

  “My husband here is just a simple farmer from Ohio.” She laughed and pulled herself closer to him.

  Cyrus glanced down at her, bec
ause although she was tall, he still had at least half a foot on her. She looked up at him, her deep green eyes sparkling with mischief, and all of his questions were answered. She was saving him. And dammed if he didn’t need to be saved.

  “That’s right.” He shrugged. “Just a farmer. Sorry to disappoint.”

  He vaguely realized how ridiculous he sounded, even to his own ears, but the women didn’t seem to notice, especially because his dark-haired savior continued talking, smoothly covering up his fumbling. “Bobby and I are high school sweethearts, aren’t we, honey?” She didn’t wait for him to respond before she continued spinning her story. “We’re here on our honeymoon and you’ll have to excuse us.” She steered him away from the women, who sighed with disappointment. “I just don’t want to share him for even one more second because I just can’t seem to keep my hands off him.”

  The strange woman spun around in his arm, stood on her tiptoes, and, before Cyrus understood what was happening, kissed him. The moment her lips touched his, everything fell away.

  The group of annoying women, the magazine article, the airport, the fame he didn’t want any part of, the business he didn’t want to run, the death of his father…everything.

  Shock waves raced through him and deep inside, his bear roared to life. And the only thing that mattered…was her.

  Chapter Two

  What the actual—

  Natalia couldn’t even finish the thought because kissing this man took every single bit of her attention and homed it in very tightly on him.

  Damn.

  No. It was more than damn.

  It was—

  Over.

  The second his lips left hers, she wanted them back with a ferocity that scared the hell out of her, particularly because in that moment, Natalia was pretty sure she’d do anything for another taste of him. And she did mean anything.