Beth Bear Novels & Stories

Due to a booking mistake, a French billionaire man who had been arranged to marry someone out of his interest was forced to spend 30 nights on a yacht with a Japanese billionaire woman who had recently lost a fiancé in a shooting incident. Would a spark of true romance be conceivable regardless of the reality that they practically lived in two very different situations? Given the complications that would arise if a forbidden romance began, would their love be worth the risk?

Before the wedding, my fiancé, Alpha Jay, stood in front of me. Hesitation flickered in his eyes, but so did hope. “Can you give me a month?” he asked, his voice softer than I’d ever heard it. A month. Time to see if he could patch things up with Linda Manwaring—his ex-girlfriend. His fated mate. “If it works out,” he continued, the words deliberate, like he was convincing himself as much as me, “then it’s the Moon Goddess’s blessing. But if it doesn’t… I’ll come back. I’ll marry you. And I’ll leave her behind—forever.” He meant it. He truly believed this was the honorable thing to do. I didn’t argue. I didn’t cry. Instead, I let a small, knowing smile tug at my lips. “Go ahead,” I said, my voice calm and steady. “Give it a try. Life’s too short for regrets, right?” Relief broke over his face like a wave, as though I’d just untangled him from a chain he hadn’t known how to break. That night, he drove off, lighter than I’d seen him in months. Meanwhile, I packed my bags in silence. No hesitation. No second thoughts. Once I was done, I picked up the phone and dialed a familiar number. “Mom,” I said, my voice even and unwavering. “The wedding’s off. I’m coming home to help you handle the Shadowfang Pack.”

Beta Max and I were at the Civil Affairs Bureau, ready to register our marriage. We were just waiting to take the final photo when he got a phone call and left. He abandoned me right there at the marriage registration office, leaving me stuck in an impossible situation. I called him—no answer. I messaged him—no reply. In the end, I had no choice but to call his childhood sweetheart’s number. Beta Max answered. “Louis, can you stop being so annoying? Grace twisted her ankle—I need to take care of her today. Stop calling and waking her up. We’ll reschedule the registration.” I bit my lip and murmured into the phone, “This makes it the seventh time we’ve rescheduled.” “So what? The Civil Affairs Bureau isn’t going anywhere—it’s not like it’s going to disappear!” My face was blank, but it felt like my heart was being carved open. A staff member looked at me with pity and asked, “Alpha Louis, are we still doing this?” I gave a small nod. “Yes. Let’s go through with it.”

My breathing was still uneven when Robert’s phone lit up on the nightstand. One new message. "Robert, there’s thunder. I’m scared." —Sarah. The words cut through me like ice water. Robert. My mate. The Alpha of the Ashborn Pack. The man everyone praises as the perfect future king. And me? I’m his Luna. Supposedly the rightful queen at his side. But no matter the circumstance, no matter the weight of his responsibilities, the first person he thinks of is never me. It’s always her. At the banquet, when the elders forced him to make a choice—me, his Luna, or her—the room fell into a suffocating silence. I still remember the way my heart begged him to look at me, just once, just long enough to see what he was about to destroy. But his answer came sharp, quick, without hesitation. "Sarah." One word. One name. And with it, he tore my entire world apart. That was the moment I understood: not every betrayal needs to be shouted or confessed. Sometimes, it’s as simple as the name a man chooses to speak. I loved him. I bled for him. But love means nothing if I’m nothing to him. So if destiny has already been written against me… then I’ll be the one to set it on fire.

As I sat in the police station with Yvonne Harper, my boyfriend’s childhood sweetheart, waiting for bail arrangements to be made, the decision loomed. One of us could go home tonight. My mate, Alpha Jackson, chose to take her. "Nicole, just wait for me one more night. I’ll come back for you tomorrow," he said. He was worried about her fragile health, but he didn’t care about my fear of the dark. Later, I called him. My voice was steady, though my heart ached. "Jackson," I began, "for the past few years, I’ve been waiting for you." "But I won’t wait forever."

"Lilith, are you sure there's nothing wrong with this soup?" "What, you’re doubting your own mother’s love now?" she sneered. Grinding my teeth, I forced it down—only to feel a searing pain twist through my gut like knives a moment later. Alpha Kane burst into the room and gathered my lifeless body into his arms. His eyes burned crimson as he roared to the Eternity Pack: "I’ll burn this world to the ground for what you did to her." But fate wasn’t done with me yet. It gave me another chance. Back on the day of the poisoning, my cold smile slicing through the stunned silence. "This time," I said, "you’ll be the ones begging on your knees." And as it turns out… Revenge is sweet, but love? Even sweeter. "I can heal your leg," I said, lifting Kane’s blanket. Only for him to grab my wrist with a deadly grip. "Getting handsy now?" he smirked. "I’m checking your injury," I shot back, eyes narrowing. "Unless… there’s something else that needs ‘treating’ too?" "Sign it," I slammed the marriage certificate in front of him. "In exchange, I’ll help you walk again." "Do you even know what mate duties include?" His eyes drifted downward, tracing the curve of my waist— and lower.

The day before the final round of Beta selection, I was poisoned with wolfsbane and locked inside my burning house. The fire spread too fast, and my weakened state prevented me from shifting. My wolf, Emma, screamed in my mind, but I couldn't escape. I clawed at the door as the flames seared my skin. When I was rescued, my body was covered in burns, my skin raw and torn. Outside the operating room, I heard my mother sobbing, repeating, “It’s my fault... I locked the door by accident... I never meant to...” Alpha David, my mate, called for every healer to restore me, but his cold words to my mother were chilling: “If Serina wasn’t so vain and selfish, I wouldn’t have had to do this. Becky was fragile, struggling with depression, yet Serina flaunted her success in front of her. This is what Serina owes her.” David’s actions were meant to pave the way for Becky to become Beta, but I was the one who suffered. He claimed to be treating me well, but destroying my health and future didn’t feel like care. I pressed my hand to my bandaged chest, the numbness spreading. Emma growled inside me, weakened by the wolfsbane. I no longer wanted the love of the mother who betrayed me or the mate who was supposed to protect me. I wanted nothing from them anymore.

5 years ago, hunters threatened to exterminate the High Bluffs pack after a pack member betrayed their confidence. The pack runs for their lives in all different directions across America from Alaska.Changing their identities, the pack members live mostly in urban areas, amongst humans in order to be harder for hunters to find. What happens when the Alpha of the Mississippi Bluffs Pack, finds out the Bannon family is living in his territory, not only without his knowledge, but without his permission? Can Susan and Travis ignore their mutual attraction? Can the packs across the country continue to evade the hunters and avoid extermination? Can werewolves continue to live "Hidden In Plain Sight," as humans, and control their animal selves to achieve their goals? Please read "Hidden In Plain Sight," to find out what happens to these packs and individuals as they are hunted and trying to survive.

Iris Rossi, a 23-year-old sharp young attorney, has been building a reputation for dismantling the criminal networks of New York’s elite. She sees the Moretti family as her ultimate takedown. Dante Moretti, newly in charge of his late father’s empire, needs to appear legitimate, to secure his position against rivals and federal investigators. After a major courtroom win against one of Dante’s shell companies, Iris is confronted by Dante himself. Instead of threatening her life, he offers her a deal: marry him for one year and secure his public image, or watch her family’s hidden crimes surface, destroying her career and reputation. She discovers evidence that her late father laundered money for the Mafia, and Dante is holding it over her.

“Okay let me rephrase the question, why did you just kidnap me?!” I ask unaware if he wasn’t quite keeping up with what was happening! “I wouldn’t call it kidnap; I was simply taking what is mine.” He replies with a dangerous look in his eye, I take a step backwards from shock and also, quite a bit of fear for a second. “I’m not sure what you think is going on here, but I can assure you that I’m not yours.” I tell him point blank, I don’t know what day and age he thinks we’re living in but nowadays, you can’t just go around and claim someone is yours. “I can assure you, every inch of you belongs to me, your whole being is mine.” He says in a growl like tone, his eyes seeming to go a shade darker as he spoke. ~~ Liv and her friends plan a weeks gateway in a hidden cabin in the woods, all of them needing a break from the year they had endured. But none of them would have guessed the real outcome of the trip. The day soon rolls around for them all to head home, but that wasn’t where Liv would end up. She takes one last walk around the property when she’s grabbed from behind and taken deep into the woods. She’s sucked into a world of mates, wolves, and terrifying vampires. Stories of an unknown Luna who was to save the werewolf kind as a whole were told to Liv on numerous occasions. But maybe those stories were not just fairytales. Can she learn to accept her mate and fight for her new life? Who will she succumb to the dangerous creatures that lurk outside the borders?