Page 25

Kieran

Maybe staying in Harper’s apartment would’ve been a better plan.

As I pulled up to the shifter school, I scanned the oval, seeing it had been transformed into a showground.

The whole community had been working on it all day, but it looked different now that the sun had set and the party lights had been turned on.

Trouble was, those neon lights illuminated a whole lot of familiar faces.

There were some of the elders. The Garrison sleuth had been a mainstay of the community since I was a kid.

I couldn’t help but wonder if one day in the distant future, I’d be holding Harper’s arm as she hobbled along, determined to make her own way, despite her advanced age.

Some of Mum’s friends were inspecting some of the baked goods one of the other families had brought.

Kids I’d known since they were babies ran past, excitedly pointing to the nearest ride as they looked back at their parents.

“Everything OK, Bear Boy?” Harper’s tone was far more gentle as she sat forward to peer at me. “My offer still stands. If we leave now, we can be in my bed riding the sex train to Orgasmville in like twenty minutes.”

That had me snorting, shaking my head, and then shifting in my seat.

My dick was plotting my demise, not understanding at all why we needed to wait.

But I did. Mack was right, damn him. We needed to get to know Harper, not just rely on a bond she didn’t feel to pull us together, and that meant introducing her to my community.

So why wasn’t I moving?

“Look, I feel like I need to warn you about something.” I said.

“That you’re not really a bear?” She made a show of peering at me closely. “Or you are a bear but it's the gay kind. You’re big, hairy, and have a really big?—”

“No.” I forced my hands away from the steering wheel. “Look, the bear community is amazing. We come together for each other, support one another?—”

“But they’re kinda intense.” Her smile was a little wobbly right then, because somehow she knew. “Like well meaning, but totally over the top when it comes to showing how much they love you. Boundaries? What are they? That kind of thing?”

“Yeah.” I finally dared to smile. “Exactly that kind of thing, which makes me think you’ve had a similar experience.”

“Just wait until you’ve met my family,” she said.

“My nanna will grill you over the best tea cake you’ve ever had.

That woman could’ve worked for the Gestapo, wringing secrets from the Allies.

And my mum…” When her smile faded, my hand went out, grabbing hers.

Something settled in my chest the moment I touched her.

“Well, she’s just intense in every way. If I can survive Susie Quinn, I can survive the bear community giving me the side eye. ”

“You think they’re not gonna like you?” I shook my head and then got out of the car to open Harper’s door. “That isn’t going to be a problem. Fated mates?” I stepped in closer, sliding into the space between her legs when she turned my way. “They roll out the red carpet for them.”

“So what’s the problem, then?” Her hand rose on automatic and she stopped herself for a second, blinked, and then pushed a lock of my hair behind my ear. The bear chuffed deep inside me, loving that small gesture of affection. “If everyone’s gonna love me on sight?”

She was about to find out.

“Is that little Kieran?” The ladies from the PTA all looked up as we walked past their cake stall. I might have an apex predator hiding inside me, but the gleam in the ladies’ eyes was the same my beast wore when on the hunt. “And who’s this?”

Suddenly, every woman at the table was checking Harper out.

“Harper.” My mate’s smile was a little tremulous as she waved at the table. “Harper Quinn.”

“Lovely to meet you, Harper.” Jane was one of the mothers, and right now, she stared me down. “You didn’t answer my question, Kieran.”

“Jane, Harper is my mate.” My arm went around my girl’s shoulders, and nothing felt more right than when she was pressed into my side. “Everything’s still in the early stages and?—”

“You need to come to the community hall,” Ingrid announced, everyone focussing entirely on Harper now.

“Find out what you’re getting yourself into.

” My mate sucked in a breath to answer but didn’t get a chance.

“Discovering that you’re the fated mate of a sleuth of bears…

” She frowned. “What do you call the thing you have with the kitty cat and the dog?” she asked me.

“A sleuth,” I replied drily.

“Hmm… seems like there needs to be another word for it.”

“Ingrid…” Meryl, another one of the mothers, shot her a meaningful look.

“A zoo!” Ingrid seemed eminently pleased by that idea.

“Deciding to accept the bond, it can be a complex thing if it's just bears you’re mating with.” Everything in me wanted to steer Harper away from this table, but that would’ve been seen as unforgivably rude.

“Like, do you know what a baculum is? And what do big cats have?”

“Spikes.” Harper said that without an iota of embarrassment. “They’re all springy, like the shell of your ear.” She flicked hers for emphasis.

“Do they, indeed?” The other women made sounds of protest, but Ingrid leaned forward, obviously eagre for more information. I’d brought Harper here for a romantic evening, not to talk about Tor’s dick. “And this does not hurt?”

“Nope.” Harper grinned. “It’s pretty cool, actually. Like a ribbed for your pleasure vibe or something. Wolves, of course, have knots.”

“Wolves…”

The ladies sat back as one, then glanced at each other, realising they had all responded the same way.

“They can be… difficult creatures,” Meryl said with a gentle smile.

“Mack, difficult?” Harper snorted. “Is that a nice way of saying obstinate, bossy, overbearing, annoying…?” Her voice trailed away as she realised she had a captive audience.

Harper didn’t know, that’s what I told myself, about the opinions and prejudices of the various shifter communities.

“He took it on himself to rescue me from a truly terrible date and has been an insufferable prick ever since.”

“He is being protective.” Jane was very intent on hearing Harper’s answer. “They all are?”

“Um… yeah. Pookie Bear here even mopped the floors at the end of my shift for me.” Pookie. Bear? “So you guys are the PTA.” Harper took in the banner. “And you look after the kids of the community and the women who’ve just discovered they are someone’s fated mates?”

“We try to ensure women accept a mating bond with open eyes,” Jane explained. “Our men, they are at the mercy of their instincts. Ones we don’t share until we choose to. Our job is to make sure you are not being coerced or pushed into something against your will.”

This was going far better than I expected. Harper looked up at me, eyes twinkling, as she smiled.

“Pretty sure I’m the one doing the pushing.”

“To bond…?” Meryl asked, putting her knitting down in her lap.

“To have sex.” Ingrid was famously blunt and never more than now.

“We do not have to worry about this one. She knows what she wants.” Her focus shifted back to Harper.

“This is good. I cannot abide mawkish girls that faint away at the news that a man has a bone in his penis.” Her brows drew down.

“Or spikes, or knots, or whatever else other shifters have.”

“Do you ladies know much about that?” Harper stepped forward and I barely suppressed the need to pull her back against me. “Because my grandmother and her friends have wayyy too much interest in the topic. I barely stopped them from Googling animal anatomy when I was visiting.”

“These sound like fine women,” Ingrid said. “You must bring them to the community hall.”

“Ingrid…” Jane’s tone was slightly strangled.

“What?” Ingrid turned to face her. “We are out of the wardrobe now.”

“Closet is the term, I believe,” Meryl said.

“Wardrobe, closet, whatever.” Ingrid waved a hand. “If these ladies have an interest in shifters, it's on us to satisfy that. Aren’t we trying to reach out to the human community now?”

“I’ll let my nanna know,” Harper replied, right as someone else came rushing up.

I blinked and then moved forward, because my mum was carrying way too many boxes again.

She must’ve given my dads the slip, because she would never be allowed to carry so much if they were around.

She couldn’t even look over the top of her burdens, so she didn’t see the divot in the ground.

I rushed forward, grabbing the boxes, then her as she nearly went flying.

“Oh!” She looked up and then smiled. “Sweetheart! I didn’t see you there.”

“You didn’t see anything, carrying all those boxes. What’ve you got in here anyway?”

But with one sniff, I knew.

“My famous honey cake,” she said, bustling forward. “This saves me a trip, because this one is for you.” I was handed a box heavy with cake. “Now, did your Harper end up coming? I hope so, because I’d love to meet her, before your dads come and get all growly.”

“Mum—”

“You know they’re just struggling with the whole multi-species sleuth thing. The bear community has been as strong as its traditions for far too long, and that means they’re a little hidebound.”

“Mum—”

“Your fathers love you.” Her hand went to my arm. “I know it doesn’t seem like it…”

My mother’s words washed over me as Harper broke away from the conversation and edged closer. Her eyes went wide as she looked at me, then Mum. Mutely, I begged for her understanding, because Mum noticed as soon as Harper drew closer. She blinked and then grinned.

“Mum, this is Harper.”

“Oh, I can see that.” Mum’s eyelashes fluttered wildly, and I soon saw why.

To my alarm, tears started filling her eyes.

“Kieran…” Right then, I’d have rather faced down a firing squad than watch my mother meet my mate.

What if she took a disliking to Harper like my dads did my sleuthmates? “She’s beautiful!”

“Um… thanks? Oof!”

Mum rushed forward and dispelled all my old fears, creating new ones as she flung her arms around my mate. Harper’s hands went up in shock, then she gave Mum an awkward pat. Mack said not to overwhelm Harper, and here was my mother, clinging to our girl like she was a long-lost relative.

“Mum? Ah, Mum? Can you let go of Harper, please? She needs to breathe.”

“Oh, my goodness.” Mum hastily wiped some tears away. “I’m sorry, love. I’ve gotten all sooky. It’s just…” She tried to smile, but it was a very watery one. “It’s just we’ve been waiting for so long to meet Kieran’s mate. I’m Kimmy, I mean Kim, his mother.”

“Ah, lovely to meet you, Kim,” Harper replied.

She wasn’t running, that was a plus, and when me and the bear took in a deep breath, we weren’t detecting the sharp stink of fear. Harper was… hovering. Like a deer that had come to attention, not sure if it was going to stay cropping grass or make a run for it.

Stay, that’s what I asked mutely. Stay, even though my family, the whole community, was really intense.

Stay long enough to become one of the older women that terrorised the younger ones with details about our dicks.

As Mum started babbling to Harper about the different cakes she’d made, trying to get her to sample some of them, I could see it.

Harper meeting the fated mate of any children we might have, or just helping other women coming into the community, if kids weren’t something she wanted to do.

Being a part of this, of everything I was connected to. Being connected with me.

The bear was somewhat satisfied, because this place was safe in his mind, but the man?

He wanted to pull Harper close, bury his nose in her hair, and run his nose along her neck, right where I’d leave my mating mark.

Somehow, that had Harper turning my way, shooting me an impish smile as she bit into a chunk of my favourite honey cake that Mum was pushing onto her.

Then, right as I was about to suggest we go and do something that didn’t involve every female member of the community, a voice blared over the PA system.

“Everyone wanting to participate in the bear back races, please present yourself to the end of the oval. I repeat, everyone wanting to participate in the bear back races, please present yourself to the end of the oval.”

This was something the elders had put together, thinking that if we were going to be out in the open, we needed to acclimate Australians to the idea of massive apex predators wandering the streets.

While there was a disproportionate number of venomous snakes, sharks, and crocodiles in Australia, big land-based predators were less common.

Maybe that’s why Harper’s eyes went wide.

“Bear back rides?” she said, clasping her hands together. “Or bare back rides?”

“Both in a way,” I said with a smile. “Us guys turn into bears and then we?—”

“Sold!” Harper grabbed my hand and started to tug me away. “Lovely to meet you, ladies, but we’ve got a bear race to win!”

“That won’t be all she rides…” Ingrid muttered.

“Be careful! “ Mum called out as I was pulled towards the oval. “I’ll keep your honey cake safe and have it ready for you when you cross the finishing line!”

“So how do we do this?” Harper turned to me, a gleam of determination in her eyes. “And more importantly, how do we win?”

“Ahh… I don’t think that’s the point of this exercise,” I said, looking around me to see other males stepping up, their fated mates, children, or friends ready to be their riders. “It’s more a PR?—”

“Eye on the prize.” She jerked my jaw her way, then pointed to my eyes, then hers. “Are there any rules? Will kicking or spitting get us disqualified?”

“Um… no?”

I stared at her in alarm. Harper rubbed her hands together.

“OK, so where do we start?”

“Well, like this.”

I tore my shirt off over my head and her reaction was everything I wanted to see.

The wild grin was replaced with a slack-jawed stare.

Last time Harper saw me naked, we were all drunk, but now?

She seemed to be making up for lost time, studying every muscle, every hair on my chest. I toed off my shoes, then unbelted my jeans, stepping out of them, and she watched every movement.

“You sure about the whole no sex thing there, Bear Boy?” she muttered, but before she could look down, my hand went out, stopping her from looking at my dick.

“You wanna win this race? Better keep your eye on the prize, Harper.”

The bear was stamping his paws inside me, ready to come out, and just this once, I let him. Fur flowed over my skin, my bones breaking and remaking themselves in seconds, until…

“Whoa…” Harper gasped, her eyes wide as she struggled to take all of me in.