Bear Hearts — Tamara Hoffa

Fate brought them together. Lies keep them apart. Love could set them free. All they need is to trust in Bear Hearts. Fate has dealt bear shifter Martin Kruger and rotten hand. His destined mate, Dr. Elizabeth Montrose, is the enemy and suffers from a fatal illness. He‘s waited over two hundred years for a mate he might never have the chance to claim. Elizabeth has long ago given up dreams of love, marriage and children. Her life is her research and now that is gone in a puff of smoke, thanks to the bears of Honey Corners. A tiny spark of hope blooms in her heart when the handsome bear tells her they are mates, but will that instinctual bond be enough to overcome all that stands between them? Bear Hearts Excerpt �" edited to PG13 His bear was primal, feral, animal. It knew only one thing. They had met their mate. The bear had no qualms or reservations. It didn't care if she was good or evil. It wanted only to mate, protect and love. Too bad the man couldn't feel the same way. How could he feel desire for such a woman? He should want to strangle her with his bare hands not throw her down and mate her until she screamed his name. He was verrückt, crazy with mating frenzy, that's all it could be. He downed the rest of the beer and set the bottle on the table. Anger burned in his gut like hot coals. Lust poured gasoline on the coals and lit the fire. Then grief drizzled down over it all, turning the fire to smoke and ashes. This was getting him nowhere. He could analyze it until he was blue in the face, but it wouldn't change the facts. Why did he keep rehashing it? He needed to take a shower and at least try to get a little sleep. He had to face his Sippe in the morning. Maybe Bern could help him find an answer. His friend and mentor had always helped him in the past, always stood by his side. Maybe there was a way? Who was he kidding? Himself, obviously. Martin's shoulders sagged, so weary now he wondered if he could drag himself up the stairs to his bedroom. What was the point in going on? He had nothing left to live for. His dream of a mate and cubs was lost. Two hundred years of waiting and searching for that perfect soul mate and she turns out to be the enemy. Unsuitable. Unfit. Evil. A single tear slid from his eye and he viciously wiped it away. Many bears never found their mates and lived out their lives simply enjoying the companionship of willing females. He had a duty to the Sippe. He could do the same. Excerpt 2 “More shifter secrets that the lowly human can't know. I get it.” Liz looked down at her lap. The tiny seed of hope turning to dust and blowing away in the wind. She looked up at Martin and felt such loss. He was a beautiful man. Tall and broad, with dark brown hair closely cropped to his head and deep chocolate eyes she could get lost in for hours. He obviously had great sense of loyalty and honor, traits she appreciated, and she'd seen humor and warmth flash in his eyes, though briefly. As passionately as he defended his clan, or what was it he called it? Sippe? The fire that flared in his eyes when he was angry, Liz could just imagine that intensity turned into a different kind of passion. Turned into sexual passion, lust, maybe even love. To be the recipient of that would be amazing, but it would never be. Whether his goddess had deemed they were mates or not. Martin would never trust her and they would never be together.