Bear Next Door (Midlife Shifters Book 1) Read online

  © Copyright 2021 by J.L. Wilder- All rights reserved.

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  Bear Next Door

  Mid Life Shifters

  By: J.L. Wilder

  Table of Contents

  Bear Next Door

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Preview of Omegas In Heat Box Set

  About The Author

  Bear Next Door

  Chapter One

  EVELYN

  “Evelyn! God damn it!”

  Just the sound of her husband’s voice was enough to set Evelyn’s heart racing, and the slam of their apartment door only made matters worse. She got out of the shower and wrapped a towel around herself quickly, then checked her reflection in the mirror to make sure the heavy makeup she wore for her waitressing job had been completely washed away. Marty hated to see her in heavy makeup. Tarted up, he called it.

  She heard him storming around the kitchen. “Get out here!” he yelled. “We’re going to talk about this right now!”

  She would have liked to get dressed before facing him, but she knew that he wouldn’t put up with it. He had said right now, and right now was what he meant.

  Swallowing, she opened the bathroom door and went out into the kitchen.

  Marty was standing with his back to her, his shoulders hunched. She could see how rapid his breathing was. Even though Evelyn was as tall as her husband, she feared his rages. She couldn’t allow herself to forget the fact that a wolf lurked just below the surface, and sometimes that wolf was very close by.

  She approached him slowly. “What’s wrong?” she asked, scanning the kitchen for the problem. She had remembered to wash the dishes before he got home. She had scrubbed the floor. Dinner was ready on the stove. Ideally, she would have been able to dress and dry her hair before he came in, but that wasn’t the kind of thing that would usually provoke this level of anger.

  He turned to face her. He was holding a piece of paper in his hand.

  She recognized what it was instantly, and her heart sank.

  The credit card bill.

  “Marty,” she said, her voice shaking slightly. “I can explain that.”

  “The credit card is for emergencies only,” he said. “You aren’t supposed to use it without asking me first.”

  She took a deep breath. “But I had a flat tire,” she said. “I had to get the car towed. Don’t you remember? I told you that this happened.”

  “You told me that you paid for it!”

  “I am going to pay for it,” she said. “I have the money. I’ve been saving my tips at the restaurant all month.” She didn’t bother pointing out the fact that her restaurant paycheck was directly deposited into the joint checking account that she and Marty shared—an account Evelyn wasn’t allowed to use without permission. Her tips were the only money she had. But she knew from experience that Marty wouldn’t appreciate having that fact brought up.

  “Give me the money,” Marty said.

  She swallowed and nodded. “It’s in the bedroom. Let me just...I’ll go get it.”

  He followed her into the bedroom. Her heart sank. She didn’t want Marty to see where she kept her secret stash of money because she knew he would steal from it. He had forbidden her from opening a private bank account, and she knew that he had been looking for her money ever since.

  She would just have to hide it again, that was all. She had found one hiding place, and she could find another. No problem.

  He watched her, his lip curled in disdain, as she pulled the shoebox from the back of her closet and took the roll of bills out of her sneaker. His eyes widened when he saw the money, and he held out his hand.

  “How much do I owe you?” Evelyn asked him.

  “I’ll take it,” he said, reaching for the roll of cash.

  She stepped back, out of his reach. “Just tell me how much it is.”

  His eyes hadn’t left the roll of cash. “Give me the money, Evelyn.”

  He was going to take it. He was going to take all of it. She had been saving this money for years. “It was two hundred, right?” she said, peeling a stack of twenties off the top. “I’ll give you an extra twenty for the interest.” Even though there’s no way the credit card charged interest already. It hasn’t even been a full billing cycle.

  Marty grabbed her by the arm and pulled her close, shocking her so badly that she almost dropped the money.

  “Marty, let go of me,” she said. He had been cruel to her throughout their marriage, but he had never actually hurt her. But right now, he looked angry enough to try.

  He didn’t let go. “You don’t need to hoard money, Evelyn,” he said. “Where’d you get all that, anyway? You don’t make that kind of money waitressing.”

  He said the word waitressing with a sneer, as if he had said stripping.

  “I get good tips.” She twisted out of his grip. “And I’ve been saving.” She went to the closet and pulled out a cotton housedress. Pulling it over her head, she stuffed the money in the pocket.

  “If you’re able to save up this kind of money, you should be able to make a more helpful contribution to the household budget,” Marty said. “I have to pay for everything around here.”

  “You don’t pay for everything,” she said. “I contribute my salary. You know that. And I’m paying for this flat tire.”

  Rage stole across his face. “What did you say to me?”

  “I’m only saying—”

  “Don’t you dare talk back to me, Evelyn, don’t you dare.” He made another grab for the money, but she pulled it out of his reach. “I can’t believe you’ve been lying to me about this money all this time.”

  “I never lied! Our agreement from the beginning was that I would put my wages in the joint account and that I could keep my tips as spending money! You make all the decisions about what happens with the joint money. I should be allowed to have something that’s mine.”

  “I don’t know what’s gotten into you,” Marty said. His voice was close to a snarl. “I don’t know what’s made you think it’s acceptable for you to speak to me this way. Have you forgotten who’s in charge around here?”

  “Damn it, Marty,” she said. “I don’t ask you for anything. I go along with everything you say. All I want is to keep this money, this money that I earned, that we agreed I should be allowed to have.”

  “But you never told me you were hoarding it,” Marty said.

  “Saving, no
t hoarding. I would have it in the bank if you had let me open an account!”

  “You don’t need an account! What do you need all this money for anyway? What are you saving up to do behind my back?”

  “For God’s sake.” Evelyn put the money in her pocket and brushed past him, heading for the kitchen. She would go out for a drive, and when she got back, he would have cooled off. He would have had a few beers, and he’d probably be close to passing out in front of the television.

  But he caught her arm again as she was passing by and shoved her against the wall. “Give me the money, Evelyn.”

  A bolt of fear shot through her. “Let me go, Marty.”

  “You owe me more respect than you’re showing me. Give me the money.”

  She tried to pull away, but his grip tightened. He wasn’t going to let that happen again.

  His pupils were dilated. His breathing was too fast.

  “Marty,” she said, trying to keep her voice calm, trying not to escalate the situation. “Calm down. Let’s go sit at the kitchen table, all right? I’ll fix you a plate, and we can talk about the money. We can decide together what to do with it.”

  There was no chance in hell she was going to give it to him. But he didn’t need to know that right now. Right now, all she was worried about was calming him down.

  Most shifters learned to control their shifting as teenagers. A man of Marty’s age should certainly have been able to control where and when he slipped into his animal form.

  But when he got angry...well, he couldn’t always control it.

  Evelyn had learned to recognize the signs. She had learned, over the years, how to manage him. How to calm him down. The offer of a meal should have distracted him enough to bring him under control.

  But it wasn’t working. He was staring at her, his body heaving, looking as if he was about to explode right out of his skin.

  And Evelyn was afraid.

  A thought came to her, one that had been coming to her more and more in recent months.

  I can’t do this anymore.

  I shouldn’t have to do this.

  Suddenly, she wanted nothing as much as to be out of that apartment and away from the man she had married, the man who once they were married, had always made her feel worthless and frightened.

  She tried once more to pull away, but he wasn’t letting go.

  So Evelyn leaned back and then smashed the crown of her head into the bridge of his nose.

  He howled and released her. Evelyn ran, grabbing her purse from the table by the door where she always kept it, stooping to pick up the first pair of shoes she saw.

  “Evelyn!” Marty howled. His inner wolf was raging.

  Evelyn jerked open the front door, ran out, and slammed it behind her.

  Her heart pounded as she raced down the stairs and out to the street. Would he follow her? What would he do if he caught up with her outside the house? She knew he would want revenge for the fact that she had made him bleed.

  “Taxi!” A cab was turning onto the street a block ahead of her. She waved frantically, running in her bare feet, and a moment later, the cab pulled to a halt by the side of the road.

  She got in, shut the door, and looked over her shoulder through the rear window.

  Marty wasn’t chasing her.

  The taxi driver was looking at her as if she had gone mental. “Are you all right, ma’am?” he asked.

  Evelyn patted her pocket, relieved to find that the roll of cash hadn’t fallen out in the hubbub. It was all the money she had—apart from the credit card she shared with Marty, of course, and she didn’t want to use that if she could help it. “I’m all right,” she said. “Just drive.”

  The driver pulled away from the curb. “Where are we going?” he asked.

  “The airport.” The answer had come to her before she had time to consider it. But she knew at once that it was the right answer. It was the only answer. There was only one place she could go, given she had so little money to her name.

  Back to Chicago.

  She had sworn, once, that she would never go back.

  She had been told by her family that she never could come back, not as long as she was married to a wolf.

  Looking down at her hand, she twirled her wedding ring around and around on her finger, remembering the day Marty had given it to her. It had seemed so wild, back then, so exciting and adventurous, to be running away with a wolf.

  In those days, she hadn’t worried about his temper. She hadn’t worried about all the red flags, like the fact that the only way to be with him was by leaving her family behind for good.

  She had been so sure that what she was doing was right. So sure that she was in love.

  And look where it had brought her.

  Forty-two was pretty late in life to be starting over.

  But twenty years of marriage to Marty was much more than enough. She would eat humble pie if she had to, but she had made her decision.

  She was going home.

  Chapter Two

  BRADY

  “All right,” said the man at the head of the conference table, who had been leading the meeting. “Interclan relations. Who has thoughts?”

  Brady lifted a hand quickly, anxious to be noticed first. The annual Midwestern Shifter Convention was a great place for someone like him to make his mark. He knew that he was lucky to have even been allowed to come to the convention. Ordinarily, only Steve—Brady’s alpha—and his lackeys, Brick and Edgar, would have attended.

  But because the convention was being held in Chicago this year, Steve had permitted a few extra members of the den to come along, and Brady had signed up immediately. If there was ever a chance of his becoming alpha, he needed to start by making his voice heard.

  The meeting leader caught his eye and nodded. “Go ahead,” he said.

  Brady rose. “Brady O’Neal,” he introduced himself. “I’m with the South Side Bears.”

  “Rank?” the meeting leader asked.

  Brady bit back an expletive. “Beta.”

  The leader nodded. “Go ahead.”

  “I’ve been thinking that we would be more powerful if we tried to create some unity within dens that lived near to one another,” Brady said. “There are at least three different bear dens in the Chicago area, for example. We should be talking to them about working together more than we do.”

  “May I?” a voice spoke up.

  A lead weight settled into Brady’s stomach. Of course Steve would have to say something. This had happened in the last two meetings they had attended, and he had worried that it would happen here as well.

  Still, he had to try.

  “I have a plan,” he continued as if Steve hadn’t spoken, as if he hadn’t heard. “A plan for how we might make this work.”

  “Hold on a moment.” The meeting leader held up his hand. “Who are you?” he asked Steve.

  “I’m the alpha of the South Side Bears,” Steve said. “And while I do respect my beta’s ambition, I’m afraid anyone with a working knowledge of shifter dynamics in the Chicago area would understand why this proposal isn’t going to work.” He caught the eyes of a few of the other alphas around the table and smiled knowingly. “You’ll have to forgive him,” he said. “This is his first conference. I know he wants to make a splash.”

  Some of the others chuckled. Brady felt like punching Steve in the face. Did he always have to do this? Did he always have to put Brady down? For God’s sake, Brady was in his forties. There was no reason for his alpha to speak to him like a child, even if he didn’t want to listen to Brady’s ideas.

  He spent the rest of the meeting in silence, knowing that if he tried to contribute again, the result would be the same. Steve wasn’t going to allow him to make any kind of impression on the shifter community, or on the other members of his own den.

  Finally, the meeting ended. It was the last one of the day, which meant that he would finally be able to have a little freedom and distance from Steve. He go
t up and hurried out of the room.

  “Hey! Brady! Wait up!”

  He turned and suppressed a sigh. Danny, one of the younger members of his den, was following him.

  “Where are you going?” Danny asked. “Brick says everyone’s going to the hotel bar for cocktails.”

  Brady raised an eyebrow, waiting for Danny to put the pieces together.

  After a few moments, Danny blushed. “Oh,” he said. “Oh. God. Fuck. I’m sorry, Brady.”

  “It’s all right,” Brady said, taking pity on the kid. “I know you didn’t mean anything.”

  “I just...completely forgot about that whole rehab thing.”

  “You’re probably the only one who has,” Brady said. “Did Brick tell you to invite me?”

  “Yeah.”

  Brady nodded. “I’m sure he’d love to see me fall off the wagon.”

  “But you’ve been sober for five years now,” Danny protested. “You won’t fall off the wagon. He’s wasting his time if he thinks that’s going to work.”

  Brady shook his head. Danny had no idea what being an alcoholic was like. And Brady was glad he didn’t—he would hate to see a kid like Danny go through that mess. But he knew himself well enough to know that even after five years clean, being around alcohol would be difficult and painful.

  Even though it ruined my life.

  It was his alcoholism that had landed him in the maddening situation he was in today. By birthright, Brady was supposed to be his den’s alpha. But the title had been passed on to Steve when the previous alpha had deemed Brady unfit.

  Of course Steve wants to keep me down as much as he can. He’s afraid that I’m going to challenge him and take my rightful place back now that I’m clean.

  “I should go back up to my room,” he told Danny. “But you go on and enjoy the evening with the others.”

  Danny nodded. “I know you didn’t get to share any of your plans today,” he said. “I think it’s bullshit. They were good plans. Maybe if you go to Steve directly and try to explain—”

  “Yeah, maybe.” The kid just didn’t get it. He had been so young when the alpha position had been awarded to Steven instead of to Brady. There was no way he could really appreciate what a scandal it had been at the time.