On his first night renting a cottage on the Cornish coast, widower John Tennant comes face to face with, of all things, a grizzly bear. Fearing for his life, John tries to convince the animal he isn't worth eating, and is relieved when the bear ambles away. Maintenance man Mitch Benjamin is two hundred years old but doesn’t look a day over forty. As a werebear, he needs to stay under the radar. The new renter is making that difficult. Not only is John attractive, but his vulnerability triggers all of Mitch’s protective instincts. If that wasn’t trouble enough, Mitch is struggling with his inner bear’s desire to befriend John. He knows what his bear is up to, but Mitch doesn’t want another mate. His last one was murdered ninety years ago, and he’s still grieving. John is confused by Mitch’s mixed signals. Physically, Mitch -- with his bulging muscles and hulking frame -- is a gay man’s wet dream come true. But emotionally, he keeps closing down. John discovers more comfort with the magnificent grizzly bear he occasionally meets on his evening walks along the beach. In an effort to help, Morwenna, the owner of the cottages, uses her psychic gifts to give John a message from his dead lover, George. Far from helping, it adds another layer of strangeness to what’s already turning out to be the strangest summer John can remember. Can a well-meaning medium and a determined grizzly bring John and Mitch together? Will Mitch come clean about his werebear nature? If he does, can John accept that a man and bear exist in the same body?

Summer's Lease

“I’m relieved the bear wasn’t one of yours then.”


“No, mate, all ours are accounted for.”


Coming closer, Mitch could smell various animals on the man. It confused him at first, then he realised the man was probably from a circus. He knew one was in the local area and he had to be careful. Ducking back around the corner of the building, Mitch continued to watch and listen.


“Oh well,” John said, getting to his feet, “I better get back, my dinner guest will be wondering where I’ve gone.”


Mitch felt foolish for worrying John had skipped out on him.


“I’m jealous. She’s a lucky lady to have you cooking dinner for her.”


John chuckled. “It’s a guy. I’m gay.”


Mitch’s muscles tensed, ready to attack if the guy did or said something to upset John.


Mitch was about to make himself known, to make sure the guy didn’t try anything, when he received a tap on his shoulder. It was Morwenna.


Chapter 20