Bearly Resistible

This was a total shitshow.
And Olivia meant that literally. She was supposed to be on the set of the Honey Bake Off reality show, not Shifter Bachelor. Yet here she was, watching two lionesses spit and claw each other in the hot tub, using painted claws and words honed to dagger sharpness. This was all to the enjoyment of the lion shifter reclined on the other side of the tub, smirking as he waited to see who would win the battle and join him in the tub. Of course, the camera crew and the millions of shifters watching would also be loving every minute of this, and voting for their favorite, paying for the privilege of their vote and enriching the coffers of the producers.
Olivia didn’t know how to fight this way. Her chosen battlefield was the kitchen. Her weapons of choice were spatulas, maybe an odd pan or baking tin, and a spice or two. Granted, as a grizzly bear shifter, she should be able to take these lionesses and smack their heads together, but she’d never really embraced that side of her, preferring to avoid all battles. In fact, she got queasy at the sight of blood. How the hell had she gotten to this place?
“Ahhh, nothing gets the blood pumping like a good catfight, am I right?” a smooth honeyed voice spoke in her ear, and she shivered.
Oh yes, he was how she got here. Ezekiel Hayes. The bane of her existence for as long as she could remember. Ezekiel was the youngest son of their clan leader back home in Rogue River, and a more shiftless male she had never met. Females had flocked to him from the day he was born, the pampered baby boy of the Hayes family, spoiled by everyone who’d ever met him. He’d tormented her throughout school, always sniffing her out where she had hid from the other kids, making sure she couldn’t stay in the shadows. Why couldn’t he just leave her alone? Then, horrors upon horrors, he’d dated her nemesis, Alexis Rowland, in high school, and the torture escalated, thanks to Alexis and her girl posse.
She thought she had finally gotten rid of him when he abruptly left and headed west for the bright lights of the movies and became a star. How the fuck had she gotten here?
A cackle from behind the camera made her snarl. She knew she’d scented hyena and jackal on that damned contract.
“Careful, Livie. Your hump is showing,” Ezekiel murmured next to her in that sexy as hell voice that always sent shivers down her spine. Asshole.
She whirled on him, and he took an involuntary step back with his hands up to protect himself. “Not the face, Livie.”
“It’s Olivia, as you well know, Ezekiel. Why the hell did you drag me into this? Wasn’t it enough that you made my life hell back home? Now you had to ruin it on the big stage too?”
He looked wounded, but still managed to look damn good doing it, damn him. His carelessly tousled sandy brown hair was artfully mussed and probably took the hair and makeup crew hours to style it just right to get that effect, with one lock of hair hanging over his forehead to make him look boyish and charming. His laughing brown eyes were wary and wide now, as if surprised by her reaction. He had grown broader and taller since she had last seen him, though he wasn’t anywhere near his older brothers, who had the more typical grizzly bear shifter build. Ezekiel was lean and tall—still slouching, though.
“I had nothing to do with you being here. I’m just as surprised as you are. And it’s Zeke now.”
She’d called him Ezekiel for so long that adjusting to Zeke was beyond her, especially since she planned to be gone as soon as she could figure a way out of this hell house.
“Whatever. I need to find the producer. This is not what I signed up for.” She scanned the crowd of people behind the cameras who were avidly watching the catfight and giving not-so-subtle direction to keep it going for ratings.
“Didn’t you read the contract? You should have had a lawyer review it.”
She snarled at him, her inner grizzly always coming out around him, even as she prided herself on her even temper most of the time. “Not all of us have a law firm on retainer.”
A scent drifted on the wind from her other side, and she whirled around. Her hand flashed out and reeled in a weaselly little man, the lawyer who had been with her when she signed the contract.
He squeaked as she snarled in his face. Hyenas. His hands were up and his eyes were wide and terrified. “You signed the contract.”
“I did not sign this contract. I’m supposed to be on a baking show. Not finding a mate. I don’t want a mate.”
“Then you have to give back the money.”
She paused, her claws still embedded in the bespoke silk suit. The advanced money she’d accepted for being a contestant. It was unusual but she accepted it without asking questions and she couldn’t give it back. She’d already put a deposit down on the bakery space in her hometown. She should have asked more questions before accepting.
“You tricked me.”
“Miss Lee. Unhand the lawyer or we will have to do something unpleasant. Remember the damages clause in the contract,” a smooth voice interjected behind her.
She dropped the hyena shifter, who scurried away. She hated hyenas. She turned and looked at the head asshole, a jackal if her nose didn’t betray her. “I didn’t agree to this show.”
“Technically, you agreed to being on a reality show with us. The actual name of the show was not specified in the document.”
Ezekiel, the bastard, let out a low whistle. “You really should have had your own lawyer look at it before you signed it.”
She elbowed him hard, and he grunted. She refused to acknowledge how her elbow hurt. Damn, he had hard abs. “You misled me. I don’t want a mate. Especially not one of these.”
The producer, a smarmy jackal named Chad, smiled, baring his teeth. “You don’t have to mate any of them. You’re only here for Zeke Hayes. Stay for the entire show, participate fully, and you keep your money. If you do not engage or participate, or in any way sabotage your participation, you will not only lose your money, you will owe us the production fees that we already spent on you.”
She turned and glared at the reason for her current woes. “Why do you always have to fuck with my life?”
“He had no involvement in bringing you here. I did.”
Alexis “prom queen” Rowland struck a perfect pose behind Chad, her smile predatory. Fuck her life.