Cinderella's Billionaire Bear: A Shifter Fairy Tale by Ella Jasmine Page B

you,
Cinderella, for taking this all so well. I thought for sure you would freak out
the moment you found out I was a werebear."
    "Believe me, I did
have a freak out moment when I first saw you in your bear form talking to me.
But I also saw how you heroically came in to rescue me from those other two
werebears and just intuitively knew that I could trust you to not hurt me.
Besides, werebears might be big and powerful, but if you ask me, humans are the
most terrifying creature of all."
    "Why do you say
that?" I asked, perplexed by her words.
    "Because as far I
know, my stepmother's fully human and yet she's fully capable of killing me.
Right before you showed up to rescue me earlier, my stepmother was at the
abandoned house where I was held captive. She admitted to sending those guys to
capture me, and before she left, she ordered them to kill me. If you hadn't
shown up in time, I would surely be dead by now."
    The bear inside me
growled while anger rose within me. I couldn't imagine living the rest of my
life without my mate. "Your stepmother, doesn't she also work for the
casino? And her name's Giselle, right?"
    "Yes, do you
personally know her?"
    "No, not really.
I've seen her a few times in group meetings but that's about it. However, I've
recently heard some rather disturbing news about her. Apparently, she was the
one helping the Beast to get our casino in trouble with the police department.
I was going to let her get away with it since she was pretty much the only
family you had left. But after hearing what you said about her hiring people to
kill you, I'm definitely going to make her pay for everything she did."
    "She was helping
the Beast? But who's the Beast?" asked Cinderella in confusion.
    "He's the owner of
a competing casino in the area. Like me, he's also a werebear. But unlike me,
he's an arrogant asshole who likes to fuck everyone over. He accidentally
pissed off a witch once, and she placed a curse on him. Still, that didn't get
him to change into a better werebear as far as I can tell."
    "So I take it that
werebears are just like humans in that not all are good and not all are evil?"
    "Yeah, that's
about right," I responded. "By the way, there's another thing about
werebears that I think you should know."
    "And what's that?"
she asked.
    "We mate for life.
And you're my mate."
     
    Cinderella
    His words bewildered
me. "What do you mean I'm your mate?"
    "It means you're
the only one for me. It's kind of like what humans mean when they say they've
found their soul mate. Except for shifters, it's a much more certain thing. I
know for a fact that you're the only one I want to mate with for the rest of my
life."
    "Mate? God, that
sounds so primal," I said in response to his explanation.
    "Well, I am a
werebear," he said with a chuckle. "Besides, everything about lust,
sex, and passion are all primal."
    "True. And yes,
primal does sound all hot and sexy. But what about love? Shouldn't you be in
love with the woman you're with for life?"
    "Who said I didn't
love you?" he asked matter-of-factly.
    It never even occurred
to me that he could be in love with me. After all, we had only known each other
for a short amount of time. So with that in mind, I asked, "Don't you need
more time to get to know me before actually falling in love with me?"
    "No. I knew from
the first moment I laid my eyes on you that you were the only one for me. And
the more I've gotten to know you, the more I've fallen in love with you,"
he said as he grasped both of my hands.
    He sounded so sincere,
I couldn't help but feel touched by his words. Still, wasn't this a bit too
soon to be talking about love and forever?
    Based on what he said
next, he must have been able to read my mind. "It's okay, Cinderella. I'm
not asking you to feel the same way now. I'm here for the long haul, so I don't
mind waiting for you to fall in love with me. I just hope I haven't scared you
off with everything that has happened today."
    "No, you haven't
scared me off