Read An Alpha's Thunder (Water Bear Shifters 3) for Free Online Page B

that she had taken a thunderstorm to have such significant spiritual meaning. She had always laughed off the idea of deeper meanings. But that night had changed her. She suddenly believed in something beyond herself, and every time she heard thunder she was reminded that she was not alone.
    Caroline was startled back to the present as another clap of thunder echoed through her room. She suddenly realized that she was missing the storm, and she jumped out of bed. She threw a rain jacket on over her cotton pajama shirt, and didn’t even bother changing out her pajama pants. She slipped on some flip-flops, then grabbed her keys and ran to her car. This storm was huge, and Caroline’s eyes shone with excitement. It had been a long time since they’d had one this big. She could hardly wait to see what patterns the waves would be making.
     
    * * *
     
    A few miles away, Lance was listening to the same loud claps of thunder. He had been tossing and turning in his bed for several hours, trying unsuccessfully to stop the loop of worries running through his mind about Caroline, Alaska, and the future of bear shifters in general.
    Lance lay on his back and closed his eyes as the storm intensified, enjoying the angry, insistent sound of the thunderclaps. Thunder had a special place in his heart. His father had told him often when he was a little cub that he was like a little thunderclap, always making a stir right in the middle of a stormy situation. Sometimes his father had said this with pride, and sometimes with exasperation. Lance had often been picked up from school by his father after being involved in a skirmish of some sort. Lance would tell his father his side of the story, and sometimes his father would agree that Lance had been in the right. Other times, he would tell Lance that he would have been better off handling the conflict in a way that didn’t involve raised fists.
    “Always remember, my little thunderclap, just because you have great power, doesn’t mean you should jump to use it. Your real strength comes from knowing when to hold back and when to push forward.”
    As a boy, Lance hadn’t understood what his father meant by that. But as he grew, he began to understand better. By the time he took over as the clan’s alpha, Lance had gained a reputation as someone who led fairly, but wasn’t afraid to use force when necessary.
    Lance smiled sadly as he remembered sitting beside his father’s deathbed to say goodbye. His father had reached over to squeeze his hand before closing his eyes for the last time.
    “Go get ‘em, thunderclap. I love you, and I’m so proud of you.”
    His father’s last words had been etched into his heart, giving him strength to go on even when the unimaginable had happened and Lance had last his whole clan. He knew his father would have told him that even if he didn’t have a clan, he was still an alpha. The world still needed his leadership and spirit; it would just be in a different way than he might have originally thought.
    Lance sighed and sat up in his bed. He felt like he had made a difference in the world through his work on the Coast Guard rescue crew, but he still felt restless. Like something was missing. And he knew what that restlessness was. His bear wanted a mate, and cubs to whom he could pass on the alpha gene and legacy. But Lance had no idea how he was supposed to find a lifemate when he lived such a solitary life. He was always busy with work, and he was afraid to get too close to anyone for fear that his inner bear would be revealed and he would be persecuted for being a shapeshifter. Trying to get close to someone just didn’t seem worth the risk.
    Which was why sending that card to Caroline had been such a monumental step for him. He had put his heart out there, asking her for a chance. It had been a long time since he had done that, and, now, he was beginning to think that he shouldn’t have bothered. It had been over a week since he sent the letter to