Diesel (BBW Paranormal Shapeshifter Romance) (The Grizzly Brothers Book 1) Read online

  “Jesus, can’t you just let a man be?” Diesel roared when he finally opened the door after his brothers’ incessant knocking.

  “Nope,” Hunter said, giving him a grin when the door slammed against the wall.

  “We just want to make sure you haven’t gone off the rails, brother,” Blaze added. “We don’t want you to go back to being more bear than man.”

  Deciding to ignore his brothers’ mothering, Diesel decided maybe he could find a use for them after all and asked, “Have you seen Reagan?”

  “She took a job after Sadie left,” Blaze replied. “I think she was upset that Sadie didn’t stay and needed to lose herself in her work.”

  “He’s just mad because he wishes she’d lose herself in something else,” Hunter said with a wink and a chuckle.

  “Fuck off,” Blaze replied, obviously not happy with their brother’s teasing.

  “So Sadie definitely went back to Chicago,” Diesel muttered, then asked, “Do either of you know how to get a hold of Reagan? I need to get an address.”

  “An address for what? Sadie’s… in Chicago?” Hunter asked, eyes wide.

  “You can’t go to Chicago, D,” Blaze said. “How would you get there, first of all? And what if something happened to set you off? Or you couldn’t find her and you got lost, or stuck somewhere you weren’t safe? What if someone found out what you are?”

  “Jesus, Blaze, calm down,” Diesel said, chuckling at his brother’s obvious panic.

  None of them had ever ventured outside of Alaska, so he understood Blaze’s concerns. Still, it was hilarious to see his normally affable brother freaking out over him.

  “I know a guy, a shifter, who owns his own plane. He makes runs all the time, and he prepares for anything that could go wrong. We’ve run together a time or two, and I’d trust him to get me in and out, and keep us both safe.”

  “I don’t know, D,” Hunter said, agreeing with their brother as usual.

  “I have to show her that she’s worth it,” Diesel explained. “Even though it would be impossible for me to move to Chicago, I want her to know that I’m willing to meet her halfway. That I don’t expect her to make all the sacrifices in this relationship.”

  When they still looked skeptical, Diesel said, “I claimed her. She’s mine and I’m hers. I have to go to her.”

  They must have heard the sincerity of his tone, because while Blaze smiled at him, Hunter whipped out his phone and shot off a text. Moments later, his phone dinged in response.

  “I’ve got the address,” he said.

  “Thanks, brother,” Diesel said, then went to make his own phone call.

  Less than two hours later, he was at the local airport meeting his friend, Chuck.

  “I can’t thank you enough, Chuck,” Diesel said as he folded himself into the small plane.

  “You’ve never asked me for a thing, man, and I’m a sucker for a good love story,” his older friend replied, and Diesel could almost make out a smile through the brown bear shifter’s beard. “I’m happy to help.”

  A few hours later, Diesel was ready to kiss the ground. He’d never been so scared, nauseous, and uncomfortable in his life, and he vowed, once he got back to the safety of his home, he’d never leave again.

  First though, he needed to find his mate.

  “I called a guy who’ll meet you out front with a car and take you where you need to go,” Chuck said as they walked toward the airport. “I’ll be here when you get back.”

  “Thanks, man, I’ll owe you big time.”

  “Nah, you just bring her back and make lots of cubs.”

  “I’ll do my best,” Diesel said with a grin, then went out and found a man holding a sign with his name on it.

  “You Diesel?” a small gray haired man asked.

  “Yeah, how’d you know?” he asked with a cock of his head.

  The man looked him up and down and said, “You look like a Diesel.”

  Diesel chuckled and handed him the piece of paper with Sadie’s address on it.

  “Sure, I know the place,” the old man said, then held the door open for Diesel to get in. He felt weird having a strange man open his door for him, but he went with it and sat back. He felt a little out of sorts after the airplane, and was eager to see Sadie again.

  He stared out the window as they drove, and found all of the buildings crowded together and small, confined space off-putting. He didn’t understand why anyone would choose to live here when there was so much available land in the world to live on.

  Thirty minutes passed until the driver finally stopped the car in front of a tall building with tons of windows and barely any grass or greenery to speak of.

  “This is the apartment building,” the man said through a window from the front seat. “Just go on up to the fourth floor and look for a door with 425 marked on it. That’ll be your girl’s place.”

  “Thank you,” Diesel said as he let himself out of the car and looked up at the building.

  He knew she was happy here, even if he didn’t understand how. Still, he hoped he could convince her that she could be just as happy, if not happier, back in Alaska with him.

  Diesel followed the man’s instructions, his heart pounding as he looked at the numbers on the door, which indicated it was Sadie’s home.

  His first knock was soft, but by the fifth knock, Diesel pounded on the door.

  “She’s not there,” a voice said from behind him.

  Diesel turned his head and asked, “Sadie?” Just to make sure he wasn’t pounding on the wrong door.

  “Yeah, the cute little blonde,” the redhead with a baby on her hip said. “She packed up her stuff and left this morning.”

  “She’s gone?” he asked, dejected.

  “Yeah, movers came and everything.”

  Seventeen

  Sadie

  “You have got to be kidding me,” Sadie muttered as she kicked the flat tire of her rental car.

  Only she could get stranded in the middle of nowhere Alaska twice in the same month.

  She could kick herself for letting her cell phone die before she got on that plane in Chicago, but once she’d made the decision to come back, Sadie felt the need to go as quickly as possible. That was why she’d hired a moving company to pack her things and ship them, and she hopped on the first plane out of town.

  Sadie only hoped that Diesel wasn’t too mad to accept her apology. She knew leaving him like that was cruel, but she’d needed the distance, and the time in her own space, to come to the realization that Diesel already knew in his heart. That they belonged together, and they’d never be as happy apart as they would be together.

  She was just sorry she’d had to hurt him in the process of finding the same thing out for herself. And now, she’d probably freeze to death before she got the chance to tell him.

  As Sadie racked her brain for what she should do, a loud roar sounded in the distance.

  Her breath caught and her heart pounded, the sound of the bear scaring her even though she knew that not all bears in these parts were lethal.

  She turned toward the sound to see a large, dark brown grizzly coming toward her, and knew it wasn’t Diesel, as she’d hoped. No, this bear was a bit smaller, with darker fur than Diesel’s. Just as she was about to rush into her car and lock the door, though, the bear dropped to all fours and slowly moved toward her. That was when she saw his eyes, which were so dark they were almost black.

  “Hunter?” she asked cautiously, and when the bear roared, Sadie knew she was correct.

  When the bear turned and ran, she prayed he was going back for help, and got back into her car. After twenty minutes back in the running car, the sound of a truck approaching had her getting back out of the rental.

  Hunter and Blaze stared out at her as the truck approached.

  “Hi,” Sadie said happily when they pulled up and opened the door for her to get in. “I’m so happy you found me.”

  “We’ll come back for your car aft
er we get you settled,” Blaze said, then asked, “Are you going to Reagan’s or to Diesel’s?”

  “Diesel’s,” she said, and the brothers flashed matching grins at her.

  “Diesel will be really happy when he comes home,” Hunter said.

  “Is he off in the woods?” Sadie asked as they turned the truck back toward town.

  “No, he went off to get you,” Blaze replied.

  Sadie’s head swung toward them and her mouth dropped open.

  “Diesel is in Chicago?”

  “Yeah,” Hunter replied, “And he was probably pissed when he traveled all that way and you weren’t there.”

  “I’d love to have been a fly on the wall in the plane,” Blaze added with a chuckle. “Remember how long it took before D was comfortable in a truck? I bet he was freaking the hell out.”

  “I can’t believe he did that,” Sadie said.

  “He’d do anything for you,” Hunter replied, his tone sincere.

  When they dropped her at Diesel’s Sadie promised to have him call them as soon as he got back home, then she did what she could to make sure his homecoming was a special one.

  She cleaned up the bits of broken things he’d left in the house, lit a fire in the fireplace, and made her first meal in, what she hoped, was her new kitchen.

  Sadie roasted chicken, broiled potatoes, and steamed vegetables. Then she made a cobbler from the fresh blackberries Diesel had in his fridge. She opened a bottle of wine and left it out to breathe, and made sure he had the beer he liked.

  Luckily, he did, because at this point, she was stranded until Diesel came back. She could have called Reagan, or Hunter and Blaze, if she needed anything, but Sadie really wanted it to be just the two of them when he returned home.

  The sun was getting low, and Sadie was worried that he’d stayed in Chicago to look for her, or that something had happened to his plane, when she heard his truck pulling up outside the house.

  With her heart in her throat, Sadie went to the door and opened it, then waited in the doorway as Diesel dropped down from his truck.

  His eyes found her, and the smile that took over his face was the best thing she’d ever seen. Sadie watched as he strode toward her, his smile never wavering.

  “Hey,” she said softly as he walked up the stairs, then she laughed when he lifted her up and spun her around.

  “Hey,” Diesel replied, bending down to nuzzle her neck.

  “I made dinner.”

  “I’m starved,” he said, still smiling broadly. She offered him her hand and drew him inside.

  When he shut the door behind them, she flew back into his arms.

  “I can’t believe you went to Chicago for me. Thank you,” Sadie said with a small sob.

  “I can’t believe you came back to me,” Diesel replied. “Thank you.”

  Sadie pulled back and looked up into his handsome face, which was somewhat swimming through her tears.

  “I love you,” she said. “And I’m sorry I left, but I had to go in order to know that this is the place I’m meant to be.”

  “I love you too,” Diesel replied. “And no matter where you go, I’ll always come after you.”

  Epilogue

  Epilogue – Diesel

  Diesel had never been happier in his life.

  Not in bear form.

  Not as a man.

  Not the day he’d realized Sadie was his mate.

  But watching his beautiful bride, ripe with his cubs, gorgeous in a flowing, high-waisted ivory dress, walking toward him down an aisle of red roses, Diesel knew he’d reached a level of happiness that few men were blessed to find.

  Reagan smiled from across the aisle, beautiful in her own right in her sapphire blue Maid of Honor gown, while his brothers stood up at his side as dual best men.

  No one was sitting in attendance; it was just family, standing in the great outdoors with Alaska as their backdrop while he and Sadie exchanged their vows. Yes, it was just a technicality. To Diesel, the day he’d claimed her was the day he’d told the universe that he was hers until his dying day, but for Sadie, this ritual was important.

  A day she’d dreamt about since she and Reagan were just girls, and Diesel was happy to give it to her.

  Hell, he’d give her anything she wanted, especially if it meant she wore that dress, and kept coming at him with a look on her face that said she loved him more than anything in this world. At least, until their cubs came.

  Sadie was the perfect mate, and Diesel knew she’d make a wonderful mother.

  In the last few months they’d settled into their life together. Sadie found that she could work from home and still have a thriving career, and she was pleased to be closer to her sister.

  Diesel had learned to spend less time out in the wild, and more time at home, pleasing his wife, and he’d never felt more satisfied. His relationship with his brothers was growing too, although he’d rather have been at home snuggled up with his mate, than off having a drink with the town’s biggest players.

  When she finally reached him, Diesel took her hands in his, then turned to the reverend and said, “I do.”

  Sadie laughed, the sound like little lights brightening his world.

  “You don’t say it yet, Diesel, you have to wait for him to say the vows.”

  “My answer is still, I do,” he promised. “Forever and always.”

  The End

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  About the Author - Terra Wolf

  I love to write about romance that isn’t your typical love story. My books allow my imagination to run free and explore every possible idea I have. That makes writing less like a job and more like a fantasy come to life.

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