by Bianca D'Arc
Sven stopped and looked at her. “It’s not easy for a strong person to be laid low by injury. I see it often enough in my profession, but this is only a temporary setback for you.”
“It doesn’t feel temporary.”
Chapter Five
He could’ve leaned over and kissed her then, but she seemed in no mood to be pawed by a polar bear. She just looked so forlorn, he wanted to wrap her up in a comforting bear hug, but this was one prickly fish, and he didn’t want to do anything to antagonize her right now. He’d only just put her back together. He didn’t need her tearing him—or herself—apart because he got too aggressive too soon.
Or at all.
Sven didn’t understand why, but this mermaid called to his bear half more than any other female he’d ever encountered. The bear wanted to bask in her scent and roll onto its back at her feet in surrender.
As a rule, his bear was a brawler, not a creature that had ever even considered surrendering to anyone or anything. Yet… The mermaid brought out all sorts of instincts he didn’t understand.
Even the human part of him was affected. Sure, like most men, Sven had always been attracted by a pretty face, but there was something deeper in his attraction to Sirena. Something more primal. Animal—even in his human form.
He wanted her. But more than that, he wanted her whole and healthy, and he wanted her to choose him back. Desperately.
“You said turkey or roast beef, so I got both. I thought maybe you wouldn’t mind my company for dinner. Thought maybe we could talk a bit. Get to know each other,” he ground out as he piled the table between them with food. Smooth, Sven, real smooth.
Sirena looked puzzled when he dared to glance up to check her expression. After a beat, she spoke.
“Sure. I’d like the company, but you shouldn’t have gone to so much trouble. You brought back enough food for an army.”
“Bears eat a lot. I wasn’t sure how much the average mer might like, so I figured I’d err on the side of caution. Anything we don’t finish tonight, I can put in the fridge, and I can have it for lunch tomorrow. I always try to keep the fridge stocked with a bit extra anyway, in case somebody comes in. Food is part of shifter healing. Helps restore the energy our bodies use when they heal.” He finished laying out the sandwiches and utensils, letting her take her pick.
“Mer aren’t exactly the same as land-based shifters, but I guess we do eat more than humans, when we have successful hunts. Of course, we can also go for a day or two without eating if we’re in a bare patch of ocean.” She grabbed the turkey sandwich closest to her first, and he took one of his own. He’d gotten three of each, just in case, plus some treats for dessert.
“Well, bears can go a while without food too, but we certainly don’t like it.” He took a huge bite of the turkey on rye. The gals at the bakery certainly knew how to make a good sandwich.
“You mean you guys don’t hibernate like your wild cousins?” The playful tone in her voice made him look up, and he was struck by the dancing light in her eyes.
“Even my non-shifting polar bear cousins don’t really hibernate. That’s strictly a brown and black bear thing. Pregnant polar females will den up in the snow and not eat for a few months while they have their cubs, but males, and females who aren’t pregnant, just keep moving even in the harshest conditions. Hunting, living. Their metabolic rates drop a bit to help them stay warm, but they don’t hibernate. And neither do I.” He took another bite of his sandwich. “Not that the idea of sleeping in doesn’t appeal to me now and again.” He winked at her and was charmed by her answering smile.
“My mistake,” she said softly, nibbling on her sandwich in a way that made him wonder what those lush lips would feel like if she used them on his skin.
“How do you like the food?” he asked when the silence had dragged a bit too long.
“My compliments to the chef. This is seriously delish.” She popped the last bite of the turkey sandwich into her mouth and reached for the roast beef. “Got any mustard?”
Sven reached for the little jar Tina had included in the bag. It was a fancy spicy brown mustard they had brought in at her mate’s urging. Zak wasn’t just a black bear, but he was also the finest Cajun chef in town—or in the state, for that matter. His new restaurant was nearing completion. The funding had come from a surprising silent partner—the Master vampire of Seattle, old Hiram Abernathy.
That project had marked a new era of cooperation and a very visible sign of the truce between the vamps and weres in Grizzly Cove and Seattle, which wasn’t too far away as the crow flies. Sven wondered what the mer would make of the ties between the bears of Grizzly Cove and Master Hiram.
Deciding to leave the politics to those better suited to deal with such things, he uncapped the mustard jar and handed it over to Sirena along with a plastic knife. Her eyes lit up when she saw the gourmet brand.
“Fancy,” she said, slathering her sandwich with the golden goodness. When she’d finished, there wasn’t much left in the tiny jar, but that was okay. Tina had sent along another, which Sven was keeping in reserve for now.
For some reason, he was transfixed by the sight of Sirena biting into the fresh sandwich, her luscious lips surrounding the bread and meat. Mustard oozing.
Sven had never thought the act of eating a sandwich could be sexually stimulating before, but he’d been wrong. Sirena, thank the Goddess, seemed oblivious to the fact that Sven had to squirm in his chair as his jeans suddenly became uncomfortably tight in the crotch area.
Shit. He’d just gotten a hard on from watching her eat. What was wrong with him? She was injured. Weak. A patient in his care, for goodness sake!
But she was also the sexiest thing he’d ever seen. Even at less than half strength, she was a force to be reckoned with. Her strength of spirit appealed to his bear side, and his human side. Sirena was a woman who sparked his long-dormant interest in new and exciting ways.
Sven squirmed a bit more in his chair, grateful that the high table was between them. With any luck, she’d never know how inappropriately turned on he’d become by watching her eat dinner.
“So, what do you usually do around here? I know shifters heal notoriously fast, so there probably isn’t much call for a doctor most of the time, is there?” Sirena asked between bites.
Her question broke his stupor and shook him back to his senses a bit. “You’d be surprised. Just lately, I’ve been kept hopping by a certain sea monster and the damage it’s been inflicting on my friends and their mates and allies. But even before that, there was enough to keep me busy. While you’re right about shifters not really catching diseases or even the common cold very often, we do manage to get banged up now and again.” He reached for another sandwich and tried to concentrate on telling her about his work rather than the still-uncomfortable fit of his jeans. “We’ve had a few construction accidents while we’ve been building. Broken bones to set. Dislocated shoulders to pop back in. Then, there are the brawls. We had quite a few while figuring out the new hierarchy here in town. It’s not natural for so many bears to congregate together in one place. It’s been…” How did he describe the series of challenges and fights that had characterized their first months setting up this place without alarming the mermaid? “It’s been…interesting times.”
“I bet,” was her only comment as she focused on her sandwich. That despicable, loathsome, lucky son of a sandwich that had her lips wrapped around it…again. Shit. He was going to bust the zipper on his jeans if she kept doing that. “So you’re basically a trauma man, then? You deal with injuries more often than disease?”
“Pretty much all the time. Oh, once in a while someone will get a sniffle, but aside from handing out the occasional pain med, I don’t do a lot for the adults. The kids, on the other hand, get into more mischief than I thought they would, though we don’t have a lot of cubs in town yet. As far as adults go, our shifter healing does the bulk of the work around here.”
“That’ll change if you
get more humans coming through. They get sick a lot,” she observed.
“That’s true. And it’s something I’ve been thinking about. We may need to expand these facilities if traffic picks up. Having only one room for overnight patients was a bit shortsighted. We should probably build on and add another room. Maybe two. Just in case. And they could be used for non-medical emergencies too, when someone needs a place to sleep and there’s no other option available for whatever reason.”
“You have been thinking about this. I’m impressed.” Thankfully, she finished with the sandwich and seemed to take a break from eating for the moment, sipping at her water instead.
“Well, that’s the role I’ve agreed to play for the town. Doctor and safe port in a storm, so to speak. I never thought I’d be dealing with your folk though, so I’m going to have to brush up on mer, in general. If this situation becomes as permanent as it appears it might, then I’d even consider hiring a mer to work in the clinic, once it’s expanded. If this place is going to get bigger and busier, I’ll need help.”
“Very forward thinking of you,” she said, looking at him from under her lashes while she sipped more water. “But what do you mean about permanence exactly?”
“I mean after we defeat the leviathan. If the mer still want to use Grizzly Cove as a base, then some of you might want to build homes here. This could be a good place for your folk to come and go from the water in a protected environment, where you could put down roots on land that would be waiting for you, protected by us and our alliance with your folk, whenever you want to return.”
“I hadn’t really thought that far ahead,” Sirena admitted, though she seemed impressed, rather than skeptical, of the idea.
“Truth be told, I didn’t either. It’s something John came up with. He’s the long-term strategist. He’s the one who planned the whole concept of the town, long before he ever told us about it. That’s why we made him Alpha. He’s always had our best interests at heart, and now, that includes you and your people too.”
“I assume he’s been discussing all these long-term plans with Nansee, our pod leader?” Sirena asked, one eyebrow raised in a quizzical expression.
“She’s staying at his place,” Sven told her. “Nell set her up in their guest room. I bet they’re plotting and planning over every meal.”
Sirena seemed to take in that information as she finished her water. “Do you mind if I tackle another roast beef sandwich?”
“Not at all,” he said while inwardly wondering how he was going to get through watching her devour another mustardy creation. He handed over the second little bottle of mustard before she even asked.
When she started eating the second roast beef sandwich, it was all he could do to remain seated. He matched her bite for bite as he ate the last sandwich and tried really hard not to stare at her gorgeous mouth.
And then, the mustard oozed just a bit too far. A little dollop landed on the side of her mouth. It drove him bonkers when she seemed not to notice. The bear inside him sat up as if he’d spotted a succulent treat.
“What?” Sirena seemed to become aware of his rather pointed interest, but he couldn’t help himself. He leaned forward, reaching out his hand.
“You’ve got a little mustard…” He leaned even closer, the table between them the only thing keeping him from licking the condiment off her soft cheek. Instead, he reached out with the index finger of his right hand, touching her gently, wiping away the golden smear.
Her tongue peeped out and touched his finger, and he thought he was going to come in his pants right then and there. Damn.
She held his gaze as she reached farther with her little pink tongue, licking the mustard off his finger, which had stalled, just millimeters from her lips. That was it. He couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think of anything but how it would feel if she took his finger—or better yet, his dick—in her mouth.
The image battered at the inside of his skull, but his body was frozen. Polar bear or not, the mermaid had managed to turn him to ice. Hot as hell, but still immobile. She smiled at him as she moved back, leaving him there, holding his finger out like a rube.
“Can’t waste any of that delicious mustard,” she said, breaking the spell.
Holy shit. This mermaid was potent as hell.
A thought suddenly occurred to him.
“Sirena… You’re not part sea siren by any chance, are you?”
She laughed aloud then, her laughter sweet music, like chimes in the still air.
“Why, doctor, I think I’m flattered.” Her coy tone made him smile and sit back, finally lowering his hand. “But a girl doesn’t reveal that sort of thing on a first date.”
That made him sit up again, his back ramrod straight. “Is this a date? If so, I owe you flowers and wine, at the very least.”
“How about I take a rain check on that stuff? I’m more than content at the moment with these yummy sandwiches and spicy mustard.” She shrugged. “And as for if it’s a date… I’m not really sure. But it is the first time I’ve shared a meal with a man alone in a few years, so I’ve had a bit of a dry spell.”
“Years?” He couldn’t quite believe this beauty wasn’t being courted by every male in the ocean.
“I went to sea a few years ago and haven’t spent much time on land since. When we’re in our mer form, things are a bit…different. And there have always been more females than males among my people.”
Sven still couldn’t believe it. He’d seen the other mer about town, and Sirena was, by far, the most lovely of them all. Why wasn’t she dating? Had someone hurt her? The thought made his inner bear want to growl, but he managed to suppress it. He didn’t want to scare her in any way.
He wanted to see her smile again. He wanted to make her happy.
He would work on that long term, but for right now, he had something that might—at least temporarily—put a smile back on her face. He reached for the bakery box he’d set on the side table earlier and opened it up.
“I can’t imagine what it’s like living beneath the water,” he told her gently. “I can’t imagine not having access to this sort of thing.” He revealed the pastries the Baker sisters had sent along. “The other bears are really partial to the honey buns, but I like these coconut puffs myself.” He reached into the box and snagged one, popping it into his mouth. He then offered the box full of sugary goodness to Sirena, gratified to see her try one of the coconut puffs too.
“Mmm. These are amazing,” she said around a mouthful of coconutty heaven.
They talked about living on land versus living underwater for a while, nibbling on pastries. He did his best to observe her while not appearing to. She had looked better right after Gus’s visit, but the paleness was back, and he could see visible signs of weariness. Sirena had done better today than she had at any time since coming in, but she wasn’t healing as quickly as he would like.
When she yawned for the third time, he began cleaning up the remnants of dinner. She needed her rest, and it would be counterproductive for him to stay chatting with her, keeping her awake—no matter how much he wanted to do just that. He was surprised to find himself truly enjoying her company. He didn’t want the quiet encounter to end, but she needed sleep, and he needed to study her case notes and try to figure out something else he could do to help her recover.
He stood, taking the trash with him toward the door. “If you need anything during the night, just let me know. I’m sleeping out in the clinic while you’re here, so I’ll be around.”
Chapter Six
Sirena was a really touched that Sven would give up what she was sure was a comfortable bed in his own home to keep an eye on her. She hadn’t given much thought to the arrangements before, but he must’ve been keeping watch over her ever since her arrival.
“I really can’t thank you enough for looking after me. I’m sorry to be such a nuisance—”
She would have said more, but he raised one hand forestalling her words.
“It’s my job to help those who are in pain, Sirena. Believe it or not, I enjoy it—not that you need my help, of course, but that I’m able to provide it.” He paused by the door, looking away as if in contemplation. “It’s my job,” he repeated, his voice going lower. “But more than that, it’s my calling.”
He shook his head as if embarrassed. Perhaps he thought he had said too much, but his words had revealed a much greater depth to the man than she had expected. She was grateful for his candor. It made her feel a little less embarrassed by her situation, by her dependence on him at this moment.
She’d always been a strong woman, standing on her own. She’d never really had such a dire injury before. Being laid up didn’t sit well with her, and being beholden to anyone for even her simplest needs made her incredibly uncomfortable.
His words though… His almost unwilling explanation about why he did what he did for a living made her feel somehow better about the situation.
“I’m very grateful to you, Sven,” she said softly. The moment felt significant between them. As if they were sharing secrets. “I’ve never been this weak before, and it’s hard to deal with emotionally as well as physically. I appreciate your willingness to help me while I’m down.”
“I’ve been down once or twice myself,” he admitted, turning at the door to offer her a lopsided smile. He just looked at her for a moment, their eyes meeting and holding as an understanding energy passed between them. Finally, he looked away, still smiling faintly. “I’ll be outside if you need anything. Don’t hesitate to ask for help. That’s what I’m here for.” He walked over the threshold, leaving the door to her room open. “Rest well, Sirena.”
“Good night, Sven,” she said, confident that, with his sharp shifter senses, he could hear her softly spoken words.
Sven checked on his patient throughout the night, but she didn’t wake. She was in a deep sleep that was close to unconsciousness, if he was any judge. She should be getting better now, if there was no power drain on her magic, but she wasn’t. Or, if she was, it was incredibly slowly. Even slower than a human.
