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I had just shut the bedroom door when I heard a heavy sound coming from outside. There was a distinctscrape-scrape-scrapeof nails against wood. For one second, there was a pause of silence, and then I turned to face the entryway, a clear view of the front door.

I held my breath as I saw the handle turn, then the wood door was being pushed open.

A little whimper of something other than fear spilled from me when I spied three sets of golden, glowing eyes already trained right on me.

Well, it was now or never to figure out what my future held.

7

Bear

Icould smell her apprehension instantly, and the protective side of me rose, even though I knew she wasn’t afraid of us.

My brothers and I stayed back, giving her a moment to get her bearings. She looked her fill of us, taking in every aspect of our bodies, starting with our clawed feet up to the tops of our heads.

I was the one to enter the cottage first, my movements slow so I didn’t frighten her further. Our female was strong as she stood her ground, but I could see the rapid pulse at the base of her neck beating quicker. The candles scattered throughout the cottage flickered with the wind rushing in through the opened doorway. Bruin was next to enter, then Ursid. Our youngest brother shut the door quietly behind us, sealing off the torrential weather.

The sweet scent of Goldie’s lingering arousal filled the air. It was faded, not new. But it was incredible. The greatest, sweetest thing I’d ever inhaled into my body.

The cottage started growing warmer with the door closed, the frigid storm cut off.I held a stack of furs I’d taken from the cave, and Bruin had four trout hanging from a line of twine, while Ursid had a bowl of oats to make porridge.

We shook off the snow and ice, droplets falling to the wooden floor before melting quickly. But even the weather couldn’t mask the pheromones pouring off us.

She was in the hallway, presumably had seen our rooms… the ones we had yet to sleep in.

They were ones we made so we each could spend private time with our mate.

“Where am I?” Her voice was soft, tentative.

I took in her scent, loving that I didn’t sense any genuine fear. She was strong, our human, ready to face us, even though we were triple her size and not of her species.

“You’re at your new home,” Bruin grunted, and I snapped my head in his direction, baring my teeth.

“Easy,” I growled, because he said it aggressively, possessively.

Bruin narrowed his eyes at me, his nostrils flaring as his own dominance rose.

We challenged each other frequently—all of us alpha—but I knew he’d back down. Bruin wouldn’t want to frighten Goldie.

He was the one to break eye contact as he looked back at our female. Ursid hadn’t taken his gaze off her the entire time. His chest was rising and falling, and the aroma of his mating need saturated the air.

Surely, she could scent the spice with undertones of sweetness laced in it? And when her little nostrils flared, the way her pupils dilated told me it was taking effect on her in the best of ways.

“This isn’t my home.” She rolled her shoulders back and tipped her chin up.

I watched with pleasure at seeing the defiance on her face and the strength and fire in her eyes. We said nothing, knowing the situation wouldn’t be solved overnight or for the duration of the storm.

Instead, we let her stand where she was as the three of us made our way into the meal-prep area.

We’d seen humans throughout our years, knew how they lived, observed their creature comforts. We were animals in every sense of the word… cooked on an open fire, bathed in the river, slept on furs on the ground.

We needed nothing but our female. But we knew Goldie would want things she was familiar with, comforts to help with the transition of her being with us.

So we’d built what the humans called a kitchen. There was a large basin where fresh water could be poured into it. We built a stove, they called it, with a piece of metal sheeting atop the open flames where we could cook raw meat for her.

Such modern things were certainly convenient for humans but not something we particularly cared for. But it was no sacrifice. We just wanted Goldie to be happy. We wanted her to know she was ours, and that there was nothing and no one who would take her from us.

Although we were on the other side of the cottage and she was still in the hallway, we could see Goldie clearly. Ursid went about making porridge, and Bruin was cleaning the fish. I set the furs over the back of a chair, planning to cover our beds with them to ensure Goldie was warm throughout the storm.