Bear-ly Spring

by M. L. Briers

  “It broke my mother’s heart.” Elijah admitted. “I think something died in her that night.”

  “And you,” she said, and that wasn’t a question either.

  “In truth, probably all of us.” Elijah said. “It’s convenient to look at Jethro and blame him – when I think we both blame ourselves.”

  “So the two of you fight every time you meet?” She asked and watched him frown.

  “Mostly, we just try to stay out of each other’s way.”

  “And is that why there are no wolves on this side of the mountain?”

  “We took our revenge.” Elijah offered back.

  “And this wolf brother … he’s going to want revenge for his brother…”

  “He’ll come for the body to bury it when he’s healed – then he’ll come for me.”

  “You’ll let him take the body?” Andy looked around her, nervous now at the thought of the wolf that could be outside the door.

  “He can’t get in and Nash is out there protecting the property.” Elijah assured her and she nodded back.

  “So now what?” She asked.

  “Finish your food,” Elijah shot back.

  “Dog food stew…” she grinned and watched the big grin that slowly took his lips.

  He was sexier than hell when he smiled like that. She wasn’t entirely sure that was a good thing.

  A moody, brooding, standoffish Elijah she could dismiss in the main … but this man, the one with the smile in his eyes and on his lips – he was potent.

  CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

  ~

  Jethro tossed the covers down the bed and eyed his mate as she stood across the room from him. She was hesitant at the door to the bedroom and he knew why.

  “I think we might have got carried away earlier, before the phone rang and…” Alana started to say her piece and he knew he’d hit the nail right on the head.

  “We need to get some sleep. The wolf won’t go after Elijah and Andy until tonight…” Jethro said.

  He fisted his shirt and wrenched it up and over his head. He prefer to sleep naked, but he could compromise for her.

  Alana’s eyes took him in. The red marks that had covered his chest after his shower earlier were completely gone and his skin looked perfect – better than perfect with all of those muscles packed beneath it.

  She had the urge to touch him again, but it was an urge that she didn’t want to follow through on because she knew right where it would lead.

  She wasn’t a damsel in distress and she didn’t need saving from anyone, not that she was aware of, but there was just something about being in his presence that made her feel like a girlie girl, like he was the big badass protector.

  It felt good. It felt strangely more empowering than she imagined it would.

  Perhaps because it was probably the first time in her life that she’d had someone watching her back. Maybe, it was just him.

  “How do you know I’m your…?” she started and stopped. She had to wonder if maybe now wasn’t the best time to remind him…

  “Mate?” He tossed her a smile.

  Even that sent a bolt of lightning straight to her womb. She nodded.

  “That’s the easy part, sweetheart,” he said as he started a slow walk towards her.

  Alana felt the bubble of adrenaline and excitement burst inside of her; spreading its warmth and fuzzy goodness clean through her body. Boy, did that feel good.

  Alana didn’t move a muscle. Just like a deer caught in the headlights; she stood there in the doorway transfixed by him.

  “Your scent pulls me in – it excites me in ways that’s really hard to explain – and it’s not just sexual, because it triggers every instinct that I have towards you.”

  “Not sexual?”

  “Not just sexual.” He corrected her, and that teasing smile of his was back.

  His eyes were locked and loaded on her and it felt to her as if he could see into her very soul. She shivered.

  “Protection, both my bear and I would willingly lay down our lives to protect you…” He explained.

  He saw that acknowledgment in her eyes. She could feel it as well, feel it coming from him. He stopped right in front of her.

  “Then there’s touch…” he lifted his hand to her face and ran his fingertips against her cheek.

  Alana’s eyes flared. Her breathing changed, and with it; her breasts rose and fell as she tried to pull in more air…

  “It tingles…” she said on a whisper.

  She could feel that touch reaching out over the rest of her body. Her nipples hardened to the point where they ached. Her womb did a happy dance, and she felt the hard jolts of want, of need and desire deep inside of her.

  “Have you ever had one of those days where you craved a food, just had to have it?”

  “Silly question – I’m female and chocolate is my best friend.”

  “You’re my craving, my need, my desire – it’s clawing inside of me now. It feels like if I don’t get to have you I’m going to go insane…”

  He didn’t tell her that he would.

  He didn’t tell her that if she turned and walked away from him forever then he’d go crazy bear … that wouldn’t be fair, and it wouldn’t be right to pile that kind of pressure on her to take him as her mate.

  A pity mate.

  Sure, she’d love him, and he’d never do anything to make her regret that decision, but he wanted her to come to it because she wanted him too, not because she didn’t anything bad to happen to him.

  “And then you bite?” She asked. There was a slight quiver in her tone, just enough for him to notice it.

  “Not a bite. It’s a mark.” He corrected her. “I mark you as mine to show the rest of my kind that you’re taken…”

  “Hands off my property?”

  Alana didn’t know if she liked that sentiment. It went against the grain of everything she was in so many ways, and yet, at the same time there was some kind of a thrill to it too…

  “Something like that, but don’t forget – if you were a female bear shifter then you’d mark me as well to show the females that I was yours and for them to keep their hands off.”

  “Kind of like getting matching tattoos…” she smiled at the thought of it, and he nodded.

  “It doesn’t mean that I own you, Alana, in much the same way that a wedding ring doesn’t mean that a human man owns his wife…”

  “What? I don’t get jewellery to flash?” She offered him a smoky chuckle that sounded dirty to his ears, but with the frame of mind that he was in – anything she did was going to be leading him towards how damn sexy she was and how much he wanted her.

  “I’ve got a good life here. I’ve got a good business making furniture for selective clients that pay well. If you want jewellery…”

  “I don’t need frosting, Jethro.” She snatched her gaze away from him and he felt lost – disconnected from her, and that felt wrong in so many ways…

  Mine…

  “What is it?” He asked, concerned that there was something that she wasn’t telling him.

  “I don’t have anything to bring to … us. I lost my job, not that it was much of a job anyway … slave hours in a bakery. Up early every morning to get the fresh products done before the shop opened, working all day behind the counter, crappy wages…” she stopped on a sigh. “One of the reasons I met the witch…”

  “You went to Aunt May’s for a job?”

  “It’s what I know.” She frowned hard. “I lost my home. I was renting from this guy and when I lost my job, well, I thought I’d get ahead of it and let him know that I was looking for another one and that the rent might be a little late…”

  “He kicked you out.”

  “Ha! If only he was that nice about it. He locked me out – kept all my stuff … I literally have nothing.”

  “This happened recently?”

  “Friday. I was trying to get to a place called Royce where I know an old friend of mine lives. She
promised me a sofa to crash on. I ran out of money…” she shrugged.

  Jethro felt the fever of anger rise inside of him. He’d make that right.

  When this whole thing was over with the wolf then he’d take her right back to her place and he’d kick the door down to get her stuff back … he wouldn’t be opposed to beating the landlord black and blue for the way that he treated her either…

  “We’ll get your things back,” he promised her and she frowned harder.

  “That’s…”

  “If you want them. If not you can walk away and start new…”

  “I still have nothing…”

  “This might sound a little harsh, but given the circumstances of her demise…” he frowned. “The town will need a new baker.”

  Alana gasped. It was half in disbelief and half in ironic amusement. She pressed her lips together as she shook her head.

  “That is a little … harsh, but considering the woman was trying to kill Andy, I’m going to let that one slide this time.” She said, as amusement filled her eyes.

  “You don’t need anything more than yourself with me, Alana. I have an inbuilt need to protect you, to provide for you. It’s who I am. Now, I get you’re an independent woman and I don’t have a problem with that…”

  “Gee, thanks…” she said, and her tone was playful…

  “I don’t think I’m explaining myself properly here, and I don’t want you to get the wrong end of the stick and try your hardest to beat me with it.” Jethro grumbled.

  “I get it,” she nodded. A small chuckle escaped her lips again.

  “Good.”

  He reached out and wrapped an arm around her waist. A moment later and he’d swung her up into his arms and was turning back towards the bed with her.

  “Tell me you’re not literally sweeping me off my feet,” she said on a chuckle filled with disbelief.

  “Give me a little credit here. I’m not that corny.”

  His eyes were sparkling with amusement and mischief as he stalked back over to the bed with her. Every instinct within him was screaming at the symbolism of his actions.

  Mine … His bear growled the claim, but he pushed back against the beast’s attempted advance.

  He wanted to show his mate that he was more than capable of showing some control, even if a gentle growl did rumble through his chest.

  “Are you going to ball your fists and beat your chest too?”

  CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

  ~

  “My big, strong, manly, muscle filled chest…?” Jethro teased back, taking a moment to show her that he was considering her words as he stopped in place beside the bed, but didn’t rush to immediately place her down on the mattress…

  Alana’s excitement level had gone through the roof. She wasn’t the kind of woman to swoon over a man, but she was the kind who liked to throw popcorn at the screen during those cheesy romantic scenes…

  “That would be the one…”

  “Hmm … would it help?”

  He was playful and she liked it. This big behemoth would probably scare the pants off any man, and yet, deep down; he had a little soft gooey centre just for her…

  What wasn’t to like about that?

  “It would give me something to laugh at…” she said, giving a playful shrug off her shoulders.

  “Laughing at a man when he’s trying to be all manly?” He shook his head, playfully berating her.

  “You might need to work on that a little more,” she giggled.

  “Ouch!” Jethro growled a little harder.

  “Yeah, the whole growl thing might do it…”

  “You like the growl?”

  Both he and his bear like that. He stuck his chest out with just a little bit of pride.

  “It’s … different – like having a pet around the place.”

  Jethro was dumbstruck for a few moments, but the way that she was trying hard not to snicker made him laugh too.

  “Woman…” he said on a shake of his head.

  “Woman? Wow. I did hit a soft spot in your armour, didn’t I?”

  “It’s not like I shift into a hamster…”

  “Good thing too. I don’t like rats, and hamsters are a no-no for me.” She informed him.

  “I don’t think you’ll be mistaking my beast for a rat.”

  “See …” she said on the shake of her head. “You calling him a beast and that kind of makes the alarm bells ring inside my brain.” She admitted.

  “My bear scares you?” Jethro felt his beast instinctively pull back a little.

  Neither man nor beast wanted to scare their mate.

  “I don’t wanna come face to face with him in the woods…” she offered back.

  Jethro’s bear sang a sorrowful tune inside of him. He felt bad for the beast because he knew that the bear would lay its life down to protect her.

  “He would never harm you…”

  “Intentionally, probably not…”

  Jethro leaned down and placed her on the mattress, and then he sat down beside her.

  “I swear to you, Alana. The only people my bear will hurt are people who try to hurt you.”

  That playful side to him had vanished as he looked back at her. She stared back into his eyes before she slowly nodded her understanding…

  “Does he poop in the woods?” She teased, and Jethro roared with laughter as his bear grumbled a growl.

  “Yep, he poops in the woods.” He nodded. “Kind of hard to get him to use a toilet – they’d break under the weight of his backside.”

  His beast grumbled a little more.

  “Now that I’d like to see … your bear sitting on the toilet with a newspaper in his paws,” she sniggered.

  Jethro rolled his eyes back in his head as his bear grumbled and growled inside of him. The beast was sure to make him pay for that one and it wasn’t even his fault.

  He turned on the bed and lay down beside her.

  “You’re killing me here with my bear – you know that?”

  “Bears don’t have a sense of humour?” She asked as she moved over a little to give him more space. The bed was big but then there was an awful lot of him to fill it.

  “Oh, he does. There was one time when we were cubs and Elijah thought he’d do the whole bear – beehive thing and steal some honey … it didn’t end well. Let’s just say that Elijah’s beast ended up sitting neck deep in the lake with some rather angry bees buzzing him and my bear found enormous pleasure in watching that.”

  “I’ll bet you enjoyed that too,” she offered back.

  “You have no idea how much…” he chuckled.

  “So, what happened between you and your brother?” Alana asked and watched a deep frown etch into his forehead.

  “We both screwed up. It was my fault as much as his…” Jethro admitted as he told her of that fated night many moons ago and the brother that they had both lost.

  ~

  ~

  ~

  “Bed.” Elijah said the word and then growled at the thought of it, and the windows rattled in the frames.

  His mate in his bed – that was exactly where she should be. It was exactly where he wanted her to be, and he could hardly wait to see her lying there.

  Hell, just the symbolism alone was worth more to him than gold ever could be…

  “Excuse me?” Andy scowled back at him.

  Since he’d opened up to her about what had happened between him and Jethro, about his younger brother dying, he seemed to have been a little more sullen and brooding again, as if she’d lost that playful man that had been emerging out of his shell.

  In truth, she missed his smile.

  “You should get some sleep.”

  Andy flicked her eyes to where Elijah stood in the doorway to the bathroom. He was towel drying his hair, reaching up and stretching out those chest muscles beneath his skin, and her eyes couldn’t help but take him in.

  That wide chest called to her in ways that she wouldn’t have th
ought possible. She’d never been one to drool over muscle men before, but he just had something about him that called to her very soul.

  Her eyes followed his six pack downwards and took in the V shape at his hips that disappeared temptingly into the waistband of his low slung sweatpants. There was a nagging in her brain to see more and that astounded her, because she’d never really ogled a man before, but him…

  God damn am I drooling?

  Cos’ I feel like I’m drooling…

  That’s wrong … right?

  Aren’t I kind of breaking the hypocrite female code of subjectifying his body for my own gratification …?

  Oh, who cares …? He’s fine…

  He’s better than fine … he’s as sexy as hell and I’d give up chocolate for … a bit … for a taste of…

  Oh, geez … what am I thinking?

  It’s just been a long, long, long damn day and I’m being…

  Horny as hell …

  What? Noooo!

  Yes…

  One look at him and my hormones are suddenly track and field stars, racing off at lightning speed in search of the trophy – and he’d make one hell of a trophy…

  Bed … yeah! Bed, wall, sofa, floor, shower, kitchen side … all of them, bent over the damn stool … and … drooling!

  God, I am so drooling.

  I can only hope that I’m drooling on the inside and not down my damn chin.

  It’s not sleep I want.

  What the hell changed my tune? Can’t just be the sight of his damned sexy body … and he is sexy.

  I … have no idea. Or maybe I do, ever since he told me about his brother he’s seemed more … damn, I don’t wanna say human, but …

  Vulnerable …?

  Accessible…?

  Human.

  Not some big, tough, rough, butthole guy that growls and barks orders, although, he kind of just did…

  This is still crazy. Maybe crazier now than it was before, cos now someone wants to kill me … and him, or maybe just him now … I don’t know.

  It’s definitely bat-shit crazy.