Bears of Burden

Thorn kicks off the Bears of Burden series with a classic mismatched pairing: Allie Bennett, a runaway bride stranded outside Burden, Texas, and Hawthorne "Thorn" Canton, a bar-owning grizzly shifter who has sworn off commitment—until his bear recognizes Allie as his mate.

With a fiancé back home and a host of personal rules standing between them, both Thorn and Allie must reckon with a bond that refuses to be reasoned with.

High heat, forced proximity, and possessive shifter instinct make this a propulsive series opener.

Solitary mountain man Wyatt Drexel lives by instinct in the Texas wilderness, but his grizzly bear knows its match the moment corporate heiress Georgia Prescott arrives in town. Looking to escape her suffocating life, Georgia signs up for Wyatt’s rugged survival tour to prove she can handle anything. Sparks fly and hilarious mishaps ensue when city glamor meets wild nature in Wyatt, where forced proximity in the mountains tests two stubborn souls bound by an undeniable fated mate attraction.

As the burden-bearing alpha of a local mechanic shop, grizzly shifter Hutch Mallory guards his independence above all else. But when straight-laced librarian Veronica Maddox decides she is done being ignored and undergoes a bold sassy makeover, his possessive instincts roar to life. After a year of running from fate, Hutch finds himself locked in a high-heat public rivalry with the one woman his bear cannot resist. In Hutch, a stubborn hero must face his deepest regrets to win back his irresistible mate.

Sterling follows Burden's top dirt-track driver Sterling Mallory, whose reputation as a womanizer cost him the one woman his bear has always recognized as his mate—local journalist Ophelia Barnes.

When Ophelia returns to Burden needing a front-page story, and Sterling needs redemption, their fated bond refuses to stay buried despite years of hurt between them.

Packed with second-chance romance energy, small-town tension, and the explosive chemistry of two people who have been circling each other for years.

When firefighter bear shifter Sam pulls runaway pastor’s daughter Presley Gray from a blazing house fire, his animal instantly recognizes her as his fated mate. Traumatized by her past in a strict religious community, Presley is wary of her intense attraction to her savior and tries hiding behind a fake relationship. In Sam, a possessive protector must tread carefully to win the heart of a wounded heroine who is just discovering her own inner strength.

Matt closes the Bears of Burden series with its most emotionally resonant story: Dr. Matt Jennings, a closeted gay veterinarian who has built his entire public identity around hiding who he is, discovers that his fated mate is a grizzly firefighter named Cannon Ray.

Cannon is open, fierce, and unwilling to hide—forcing Matt to choose between the safety of his closeted life and the mate his bear refuses to let go.

A deeply moving male/male shifter romance about identity, courage, and the hard-won gift of being truly seen.