Midlife Bear Twins: A Fated Mate Shifter Romance (Bear Mates Over Forty, Book 1)

Midlife Bear TwinsBear Mates Over Forty, Book 1Aline Ash © 2023 Aline Ash All Rights Reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locations is purely coincidental. The characters are all productions of the author’s imagination.Please note that this work is intended only for adults over the age of 18 and all characters represented as 18 or over.Kindle Edition Join Aline's FB group, Aline's Aliens, for sneak peaks, giveaways, and oversharing.Get notified of new releases and special offers by signing up to Aline’s Email list Table of ContentsPrologueChapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 4Chapter 5Chapter 6Chapter 7Chapter 8Chapter 9Chapter 10Chapter 11Chapter 12Chapter 13Chapter 14Chapter 15Chapter 16Chapter 17Chapter 18Chapter 19Chapter 20EpilogueAlso by Aline AshAbout the Author About the Book: It was meant to be a one-night stand to distract forty-something Josie from her nasty divorce. Instead, the handsome stranger left her pregnant. And soon Josie found out that neither he nor the twins are entirely human. Josie Dr. Josephine Kenny is facing a midlife crisis. Literally. Her beloved husband cheated on her and divorced her, leaving her with a crappy car and barely any money to keep her clinic up and running. She is convinced she’ll never love again. That is, until a strange encounter on a deserted mountain road turns her world upside down even more. Beaten and left alone to die, devilishly handsome Trace begs her not to involve the ER or the authorities in order to save his life. As a doctor, Josie is obligated to help, and for the first time ever she does something reckless: despite her fears. She takes the man back to her home to nurse him back to health. Surprisingly, he recovers much faster than any medical textbook predicts. His rough, primal charm attracts her like a magnet. As if he is casting a spell to reopen her heart. The night of passion they share is the best night of her life. But the next day he vanishes without a trace, leaving her pregnant - with twins. One year later, her life is about to be turned upside down all over again when their father, Trace, suddenly shows up once more… Trace Leaving Josie almost ripped Trace’s heart out. For a year, he longed for her day and night. But he knew they could never be together. The world of the bear shifters is cloaked from human eyes, and his deadly family secrets keep him away even from his own clan. When fate brings Josie into his life again. Trace makes a shocking discovery. She has twins. Are they his? And if they are – Josie and her newborns are in grave danger. Can Trace find a way to keep them safe, both from his enemies and from himself? PrologueTraceWe’re about to be outed in the worst way. Trace roughly gripped Aeron’s arm and barely resisted giving the kid a shake. Taking off from the clan to go and fucking find yourself was one thing. Greenacre was small. Teenagers got restless. Once they got a handle on their shifting and could be trusted to make sure things were under control, it was only natural to have a curiosity about the wider world. Loyalty and family were all well and good, but they weren’t inborn traits. They were learned over time, and sometimes it took leaving in order to drive home the point that home was where you truly belonged. Home wasn’t Seattle. It wasn’t a city filled with humans who had no idea that the world was a more complicated place than they believed it to be. There was enough hatred in the world without people finding out there wasn’t as big a divide between humans and animals as they believed there was. Trace wasn’t thinking about apes, but he was pretty sure things were about to go apeshit, if the way that Aeron was shivering was any indication. “Trace,” the younger shifter moaned. “Trace, please. It’s bad. I can’t control it.” “I’m going to puke,” Alec whimpered. Both boys were pale. Aeron might be the little brother to the clan alpha, but he wasn’t a kid anymore. There was no point in telling him that he should have known better. That dabbling in recreational drugs and drinking and whatever else the two had been doing while they were soul searching in the big city could trigger unintended side effects. They were learning that the hard way. “You’ve hung on this long.” Trace put a big hand on both boys’ necks. Not boys, he kept telling himself. They were adults now. Those necks were now thick and muscled. “It took me hours to get here. You will not shift. Not here. You’re in control of this. Not your bears. You hear me?” “Yes, sir,” Alec muttered dutifully. He knew Alec was afraid of him. He didn’t need his keen sense of smell to sniff out the stench of fresh sweat thick in the night air. He could feel Alec’s skin get clammy under his grip. They had every right to be afraid of him. The whole clan knew what his father had been. Even the members who hadn’t been alive to see Ross MacCauley get put down had heard the legend. They knew what his father had done. The clan’s former alpha had been volatile, hostile, and in the end, he hadn’t been able to control his bear the way he should. It wasn’t a stretch for anyone to believe that Trace had the same demon inside himself. It was why he lived alone. He’d made mistakes. He’d paid for them. He was still paying. Keeping himself isolated ensured that he’d never repeat those mistakes. It ensured that he’d never hurt anyone. Except he wasn’t alone right now. He was