Bear Unbound: A BBW Bear-Shifter Romance (Shift Your Fate Book 1) by Cara Wylde Page A

right.
    “I… I don’t know. It’s not exactly the right time.”
    “I understand,” he said immediately. “I completely understand. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
    “It’s okay…”
    There was a moment of silence, which was weird for them. Amber knew it was because she was holding back. But what else could she do? She hadn’t yet decided how to react to Stephan’s threats, but there was one thing she knew for sure: she had to keep Tyler out of it. She couldn’t risk getting him into trouble. He hadn’t done anything either than make her feel loved and appreciated.
    “I actually called to ask if you have any plans for this weekend,” he said.
    It took Amber a second to remember what day it was. Friday.
    “Because if you don’t, you and Ava are invited to my cabin. It’s not very far from the city, we’ll take my car, stuff it with all the delicious food you girls want, and disappear for two days. What do you say?” When Amber didn’t answer, he sighed. “Oh, I’m such an idiot. You just told me it’s too soon for me to meet Ava. I just… I’m sorry. I really want to spend the weekend with you.”
    “No, no… don’t be.” She swallowed hard before speaking again. “It’s not that, Tyler. I would love to spend the weekend with you, and I can’t wait for you to meet my daughter. I think she’ll love you! But…”
    “But what…?”
    She leaned against the counter and got ready for a long explanation. The tea would be cold by the time she finished, but she had to tell Tyler the truth. He cared about her so much. She couldn’t lie to him. He had to know how dangerous her husband was.
    “I talked to Stephan earlier. I had been ignoring his calls since yesterday, and this morning my attorney insisted I needed to talk to him. It’s bad, Tyler. It’s so bad… I don’t know what I’m going to do.”
    “Calm down, sweetie. Just calm down, take a deep breath, and tell me everything. We’ll find a solution together.”
    “We can’t.” She sounded harsher than she meant to. “He hired someone to watch me. He knows we were together last night, he knows where I’m staying…”
    “What are you saying?”
    “We can’t see each other anymore. At least, not for a while. Not until I get this divorce thing sorted out.”
    “Amber…”
    She heard the pain in his voice and she hated herself for pushing him away, but she had no other choice. For now, this seemed to be the only solution.
    “He’s rich and influential, Tyler. He’s also fuckin’ nuts and capable of anything. He doesn’t even have to get his hands dirty. He can have someone else do it for him at a snap of his fingers.”
    Tyler groaned. His bear thrashed and kicked inside him, demanding to be let out. It wasn’t a good time to have an inner argument with his beast, since he was at the office and there were people around him, so he made an effort to control the wild animal. He had learned how to keep his beast in check years ago, and he had perfected the art of behaving like a human when, in fact, he was a bear-shifter, but Amber had a special talent of provoking the beast more often than necessary.
    “I’m sorry, baby…” It was the first time she was calling him “baby”, and the word tasted strange on the tip of her tongue. “Please don’t be mad at me. I’ll solve this, I promise, and when Stephan is out of our lives, we’ll be free to do everything you want, spend every weekend at your cabin. I’m sure Ava will want to teach you how to make a polymer clay fairy house.”
    She chuckled, but it didn’t sound genuine. In reality, she was holding her tears back. She realized she was, technically, breaking up with him. Or trying to. She hadn’t planned on it, but it was exactly what was happening. Her instinct was telling her this was the right thing to do. It was wrong to drag Tyler into this mess. He had nothing to do with her failed marriage, and he surely didn’t deserve to suffer because of