Savage Bear's Fated Mate: Misty Vale Shifters 2 Read online

  Savage Bear’s Fated Mate

  Misty Vale Shifters 2

  Samantha Leal

  Books in the Misty Vale Shifters Series

  Dragon Daddy’s Nanny (Book 1)

  Savage Bear’s Fated Mate (Book 2)

  Savage Bear’s Fated Mate

  Copyright ©2021 by Samantha Leal

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic of mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded or distributed via the Internet or any other means, electronic or print, without the author’s permission.

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  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 1

  The drive into the mountains was quickly turning into a treacherous one. Stella braced herself by gripping the wheel tightly and squinting her eyes as the fog kept descending, making her wonder whether she could even go any farther.

  “Yikes,” she breathed out, her sigh showing her exactly how cold it was inside her car. Her breath produced a white blast in front of her. She reached forward and turned up the heat. It wasn’t even winter, but as she headed north, she could sense the distinct chill in the air and knew that she was heading home.

  She was heading back to Misty Vale after all this time…

  It was something she had never thought she would ever do, and yet, here she was, making the journey after being gone for so many years. She didn’t know much, but she knew that it was certainly going to be interesting after she had fled an entire decade ago. The memory of it all was still hot and fresh in her mind; it never truly left her for a second. How could I ever forget the sorrow that haunted me all those years ago? she considered. Stella had left her adopted hometown to start somewhere new the moment she had turned sixteen, and now that she finally had the courage to go back and face her demons, she wasn’t going to let any amount of fog or cold stop her. She just had to be strong.

  She thought of her last memory of the place she had called home ever since she had lost her parents in a tragic accident when she was just a child invaded her mind. She knew it was a quaint place; one that was charming and rustic, with its small-town appeal, but she had never immersed herself in it; not fully. She had been so withdrawn and nervous, after her parents’ death, that she had hidden away at home for most of her youth, shying away from friendships and only truly having her eccentric aunt for company. She had always yearned to be back in a city, to try to regain some semblance of the life she had lost, so she packed her bags as soon as she hit sixteen and headed out into the world on her own.

  She was lucky that her aunt had been understanding and had visited her often, but now, it was her turn. And she was doing it in epic style. She wouldn’t just be going for a visit; instead, she had packed up her life and was going to try again in Misty Vale. This time, she was going to give it a real chance. City life is only fun in your early twenties, and I am creeping closer to thirty. She wanted stability. And the cost of living in the city, and the price of purchasing a home; I really want to own something of my own, and soon. And I think it is about time I settle down and have some sort of family around me. My aunt is all I have, she considered. Even if it did terrify her when she thought about letting people get close to her after losing the most important people in her life, it was hard for her to let go.

  She cranked up the radio and tapped the wheel. She only had around fifty miles left to go, and she was winding up and around the mountain roads in the final stretch, just hoping the fog would keep at bay a little longer and not get too thick. The last thing anyone wanted was to be stranded out there in the cold, after dark, with the thickest fog she possibly had ever seen.

  “Here we go, Stella,” she half-smiled to herself. “This place is already trying to throw challenges your way, but you know you’ve got this.”

  She slowed her pace as another bend came up ahead of her, and she was almost engulfed in a thick cloud of fog for a moment, before it cleared, somewhat, again, and she could see. It really was becoming ghastly out there, but she wouldn’t be defeated. Not now, not yet…

  As the roads became narrower, and she began to feel the familiar shape of the twists and turns, she knew that she was getting ever closer, and soon, the roads would flatten out and widen, and she would be on the last part of her journey, and back into a life she had run from all those years before. Just a little farther, you can do this. Slow and steady, Julia.

  She pressed her foot to the gas and sang along to the music, when, all of a sudden, her car let out an almighty bang and she felt the wheel begin to shudder within her grip.

  “What the…?” she gasped as she pressed the brake and slowly came to a stop. The fog was still around her, but she could clearly see from her headlights, reflecting off the fog, that smoke was coming from under the hood.

  “Oh, hell no…” she whispered to herself. “This is not good.”

  She looked around her out of instinct, but the fog was now starting to make it truly difficult to see the rest of the road. She took a deep breath and pressed the gas again, the car juddered as if it were struggling as she made her way a little higher and out of the main density of the mist. She could see a little clearer, but before she had the chance to pull to the side of the road and out of the way of potential oncoming traffic, her car ground to a painstaking halt. The engine seemed to splutter and then it went quiet.

  “Oh man…,” Stella said, putting her head in her hands. “You could not make this up.”

  After being so sure and confident and ready for anything, it seemed as if the world was against her tonight… And now, she was indeed stranded on the side of a mountain, in the middle of a very cold haze, her car packed full of bags, and the remainder of her things still in the city. And she would bet her life that she didn’t have any signal on her cellphone either. Because why would I have signal. After all, it is Defeat all Attempts for Julia to Get Home Day, right?

  She turned the key and completely shut off the engine, but left the lights on, before she stepped out of the car and made her way off the road, with her phone gripped tightly in her fist.

  She stopped when she was safely away from the road and looked back at her car. She hadn’t seen another vehicle out here for what could easily have been an hour, but she wanted to be safe. She looked at her phone and tapped it to life to see what she had been dreading but hadn’t truthfully known.

  She had no bars. No service. No way of contacting help.

  She winced, bringing it back down and sliding it into her pocket. Now, she was going to have to either walk around the mountain and hope that she got signal somewhere… or wait in the cold dark until someone drove along. She stomped her foot in frustration and grimaced. Could this honestly be going any worse?

  “Sure, back to Misty Vale after all this time? What could possibly go wrong?” she said aloud as she held out her arms and stared up at the night sky as if she were searching for answers.

  “Come on, though, give me a break!”

  And at the exact moment she said it, she heard the distant rumble of a car engine and the sound of music along with it. She grinned and made her way back toward her car, just hoping and praying that whoever was heading this way was paying close attention to the road and wasn’t about to plough into her car headfirst.

  She gritted her teeth and waited for the oncoming crash, but as the car got closer, she saw the headlights appear through the fog and it was clearly not as thick as it had been before. It was a truck, and it slowed right down before pulling off on the other side of the road and shutting off its engine.

  Stella clapped her hands together and looked up at the stars.

  “Thank you,” she whispered.

  The truck door opened, and she looked on as a figure emerged from the driver’s side. It was a man, alone; one dressed in dark jeans, a thick sweater and a leather jacket. He squinted as he searched for her, looking past the headlights of her car and into the darkness beyond.

  “Hey, there,” he said, his voice deep and gruff but also appealing. It was a strong voice, a masculine voice, one that would have gotten her attention whether she had been stranded on a mountainside in the cold, dark night, or crossing a busy street in the middle of the day. There was something about it that held power and presence.

  I like it.

  “Hi,” she said as she stepped forward and raised her hand in a wave.

  And as she got closer, and their eyes met, she felt something happen inside of her. She felt a gear shift, a change of balance, something big and unbridled that she had never felt before in her life, just by really looking at another person. Her mouth sagged slightly as he took another step closer and hi
s features came fully into focus; his incredible dark eyes, the way his hair was wavy and pushed back off his face in a perfect curl, the dark stubble on his chin and the way he carried himself so strong and confident.

  My, oh, my… she thought. But then she had to stop herself from swooning, from showing how clearly attracted to him she was because he had stopped to help her; she was in no position to be lusting after anyone in this moment. She was totally screwed and needed his help!

  “Are you okay?” he asked as he put his big hands on the hood of her car before stepping back and cringed. “This car does not look good,” he said as he took in the smoke still trailing up from under the hood.

  “It just gave up on me,” she said, holding out her hands. “I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t stopped, thanks so much.”

  He looked unsure for a moment, and then glanced back at his truck as if he hadn’t intended on sticking around. He looked back to her, his eyes wide and engulfing, but his head clearly leading him in another direction. He looked back to his truck and then down to her.

  “I… I was going to…,” he began but then sighed and stopped, and then shook his head.

  She glared at him, not willing to take no for an answer, and she could tell that he sensed that in her.

  “Let me take a look,” he said with a friendly smile. “Nothing quite like a damsel in distress to change your plans…”

  She smiled shyly, and he winked, and she was pretty sure that, somewhere between them, a fire had started burning.

  Chapter 2

  Smith Savage hadn’t intended on leaving town on the week that Oktoberfest was due to begin, but sometimes, life just throws curveballs that can’t be missed, no matter how hard you may try. As a bear shifter from one of the founding families of Misty Vale, Smith had always had his fair share of responsibility and stress. But with tension rising between the bear and dragon packs, and the recent arrival of a lawless biker gang, he was finding it hard to get fully involved in the usual proceedings of Oktoberfest… And it was beginning to take its toll. He needed a break, and he wanted to get out of Misty Vale while he had the chance, but it looked like it wasn’t meant to be.

  Now, here he was, his truck stopped on the side of the mountain, only twenty minutes out of town, his plans completely capsized by what could end up being the biggest curveball of all.

  This damsel in distress.

  The girl with the large, beautiful eyes and fiery demeanor.

  He knew the second he was in her presence that he was fucked. His bear came raging to the surface, his instinct was going wild with something he had never met before and he was going to have to do his best not to give in.

  Surely, this couldn’t be it? But everything was telling him it was.

  He had wanted to leave town, he had needed the escape, but there was no way he could leave her out here in the foggy darkness. No way at all. Not this girl.

  She was watching him over his shoulder, and he breathed in her scent. She was different, he had known it the second he laid eyes on her when she had stepped out of the shadows cast by the headlights, but now that she was even closer to him, he worried.

  Was she part dragon? Or something similar?

  Smith couldn’t be sure, and that wasn’t like him. He was usually on point when it came to figuring out both humans and shifters alike, but this girl was a mystery. All he did know was that she had his attention, and he was feeling something that unnerved him. Something that appealed both to his bear and to his heart. It felt as if she was it. The one. The mate he had been waiting for and the one that he was going to be determined to resist, no matter how hard his bear was going to fight to claim her. It was throwing him off his game and he didn’t know where to look or what to say. His instinct was to protect her, to sweep her up and put her in his truck, drive her back to town and ravage her… claim her. He had not been prepared and he was going to have to stay strong. This could not happen, not now.

  He frowned and tried to focus his attention on the smoking engine in front of him. This was a mess. There was no way he was going to be able to fix it there and then.

  He probed further into the mechanics and knew that this girl was not going to be getting the car back on the road any time soon. He looked up at her and could see the reflection of the stars above in her eyes. They twinkled, and it made him smile warmly.

  “Well,” he said with a wry smile. “I’d say this is completely caput.”

  She closed her eyes and winced.

  “I thought as much,” she moaned.

  He closed the hood and they both leaned back on it. The fog was beginning to clear, only now revealing their position high on a mountain turn. For this vantage point, Smith could see the road for a few miles in either direction as it hugged the mountains. Although he couldn’t see any cars at the moment, that could change quickly. They were in no immediate danger of being ploughed into, but he had to get the car off the road quickly before their luck changed.

  “I’ll move it,” he said. “I should be able to roll it off the road, but I don’t have any tow equipment with me.”

  “What can we do?” she asked hopefully.

  “Well…” he paused. “I could come back out tomorrow and take it to the closest town, which is Misty Vale…” he trailed off.

  “That’s perfect,” she grinned. “Because that’s exactly where I’m heading.”

  He raised his eyebrows. That hadn’t been what he was expecting, but he supposed Oktoberfest was about to begin, and she was likely a tourist.

  “Oh really?” he asked with a wry smile. “You in town for Oktoberfest?”

  She looked at him as if she didn’t know what he was talking about, and it made him even more intrigued.

  “No,” she smiled. “I’m moving back there… it’s kind of my hometown.”

  Now, she really was making his mind go wild. He had never seen this girl before, and now, she was trying to tell him that Misty Vale was her hometown?

  “Mine too,” he said as he cocked his head to the side. “I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen you around before.”

  “Well, that’s because I’ve been far away for a very, very long time…” she said with mystery and a hint of teasing as she raised her own eyebrow and laughed.

  He laughed too. This girl was a bit of an enigma. She was devastatingly stunning in her beauty, she seemed full of fire and wit, and she was easy to be around. Now, she was making him smile and laugh… Boy, am I in trouble. His bear was yearning to be closer to her, to know more, and there was a tingle raging its way down his skin from the top of his head to the tip of his toes, making him feel as if something were being awakened in him.

  He had to be strong and resist. It was unnerving.

  They kept looking at each other for a moment, as if they were trying to figure each other out, and then, Smith finally stood and pulled a pair of gloves out of his pocket.

  “Okay,” he said. “If you get inside, take off the brake and leave it in neutral, I’ll push from behind. Do you think you’ll be able to steer it off the road?”

  When he asked the question, he realized how stupid it must sound. She had managed to drive all the way out here… It was clear she was perfectly capable.

  “Yeah,” she said with a smirk. “I know I’m the damsel in distress, but I’m sure I can manage that one.”

  He flashed her a smile and nodded in defeat before he moved around to the back of the car and waited for her to climb inside. As he watched her and the way she slipped behind the wheel, he had the feeling, again, that she was something a little different… something that he couldn’t quite put his finger on.

  It almost seemed like fate that she should be out there, blocking his exit from Misty Vale on a night like tonight.