Teaser Renaissance Bear

TEASER: RENAISSANCE BEAR

I t was day three of the Renaissance Faire, and Jon Torben was there to kick ass and take names.

He hadn't fought at Faire in years . Mostly his brother did, while Jon ran the brewpub that was their reason for being there. But this year he was going all the way to the top. The on-foot sword fights, first with blade alone and then with blade and shield, and then the horseback fighting, both with sword and jousts. He'd been training all winter, and was down the the last seconds of his first fight during the fair.

The weather was flawless, a blue sky broken only by the western mountains that rose up over his home town; the eastern horizon went on forever, though in the fighting ring the air was clouded by dust that he and his opponent, a big man, had kicked up. The other guy had size on him, and had used that size to knock Jon on his ass. But he didn't have speed, or the secret strength of a shifter, although it would be cheating to use that.

It's not cheating, Jon's bear said. Survival is all that matters.

The bear, Jon thought, was possibly a little more hard-core than he was. It had never quite come to terms with the idea that they lived a pretty cushy life and chose to fight, instead of having to.

And for the moment, that was just fine, because he loved having the bear cheer him on too. Sweaty, grinning, convinced he could take his opponent in the final few seconds, Jon staggered to his feet and gave an appreciative roar as somebody dumped a bottle of water over him, cooling him under the summer sun. An equally appreciative roar went up, mostly from the women in the crowd, and he shook his wet hair, lion-like?—

Bear-like, his bear said, offended.

A rather vivid image of a fat bear shaking river water off popped into Jon's head. It just really wasn't as elegant as a lion tossing its thick mane.

His bear stared hard at him.

The last thing Jon needed was an argument with the bear. That could distract him from the last minutes of the fight, and it would be embarrassing to go back to Laurie a loser after making all that fuss about fighting. He conceded, Bear-like, and the bear, satisfied and even smug, went back to being enthusiastic about knocking somebody around.

The other guy was on the far side of their fighting ring now, both of them heaving for breath but ready to go for the winning blow. Knowing it would appeal to the crowd, Jon let out a shout and ran toward his opponent, dragging his sword through the dust like he was some kind of anime character. People laughed and cheered while his opponent sneered.

It did look very vulnerable, Jon knew that. That was the idea. But he was strong, even without the bear strength, and bringing the blade up and around for a killer blow was incredibly theatrical. The audience liked theatrics even more than they liked the actual win.

But we wanna win! his bear shouted.

Jon, who happened to agree, swung the sword up, kicking dust along with it. He spun, hearing the crowd's cheer rising toward a crescendo. He shot a quick glance over his shoulder, half to see where his opponent was, half to see a flash of grins and raised fists from the gathering, just so he could really appreciate how much they were about to love him.

A vividly green gaze met his. Just a glimpse, in the middle of his dramatic athletics. A vividly green gaze in a heart-shaped face, with black curls piled up around her head. A strong nose, a full mouth, wide bladed cheekbones, a flush of pink on golden skin. A long slender neck with an emerald jewel at her throat, and wonderful collarbones displayed by the elegant square-cut neckline of a gown that proclaimed her a lady of rank in the Faire. She was utterly, fabulously gorgeous.

Our mate , his bear gasped, and Jon, enthralled by her jade eyes, completely forgot he was in a fight. He missed his opponent entirely, and took a hit to the ribs so hard that he collapsed into the dust, heaving for air and trying not to barf on his mate, as she and and everyone else shrieked and backed away.

Renaissance Bear is now available for pre-order !

When grizzly shifter Jon Torben meets the fair lady of his dreams at his home town's annual Renaissance Faire, he imagines the road to love will be smooth sailing. But his fated mate, Alessandra, is a lady of the court, and while she may fancy this handsome knight, there are still trials of chivalry that must be passed to win her hand. Which would be just fine, if a threat from the modern world didn't also risk bringing courtly love to a crashing end…

Preorder Renaissance Bear now!