Page 16 of Bearly in Love

thirteen

BO

Shoving my hand through my wild mass of sweaty curls, I snarled another curse as I continued pacing.

I’d started moving the moment Madi walked out of my cabin.

My bare feet had been burning a path in the wood flooring ever since.

My phone was ringing. Artie was calling me. I couldn’t answer it, or I was going to end up swearing at him too.

It had to have been at least an hour.

Multiple hours, probably.

Holding my bear back took too much effort and focus to pay attention to the passing of time.

Madison was going to be mated soon, if she wasn’t already. No way was that bastard going to let her go more than a few hours without sealing a bond.

I needed to go after her.

But I couldn’t take down an entire skulk of kitsunes.

I needed to find her, to get her away from him.

But she didn’t want to be mated to me, and I’d be a shitty mate.

I had to?—

Footsteps crunching the snow outside my house had my bear tearing through me. I ripped the door open just as Artie and his mate, Emily, stepped onto my porch.

He moved in front of her immediately, though there was no fear in his eyes.

Just rage.

“What the fuck happened? You said she wasn’t here,” he growled. “Why the hell did I get a call from Gary telling me that they found her in your cabin, smelling like sex?”

“She’s the one who texted you,” I snarled back. “And she’s mine.”

That was the bear speaking.

I told myself it was, at least

“What do you mean, she’s yours ? She’s been engaged to the alpha since she was conceived. The mating was supposed to improve her standing, and her life.”

“My bear bit her. I bit her. She’s mine.” Repeating that wasn’t going to help me in any way, but I couldn’t hold the words back.

“What do you mean, you bit her?” Artie’s snarl nearly matched mine.

I could tear him apart with a few swats of my claws, of course. But I wasn’t going to.

Probably.

“I claimed her while we were fucking. It wasn’t intentional. There were no vows, so it shouldn’t have started a bond,” I gritted out.

“How do you unintentionally bite someone?”

“Let’s all just take a breath,” Emily said, her voice calm and upbeat as she stepped around Artie, putting herself between us.

He tried to move her behind him again, but she didn’t budge.

The tiny woman had her naturally curly hair tied up in two puffs on top of her head. The rips in the band t-shirt she had on beneath her open coat showed smooth, dark skin that barely registered to me.

I wasn’t attracted to her.

She was basically my sister-in-law.

And the only person I wanted—needed—craved—was probably sealing a mate bond with another bastard as we spoke.

A feral roar tore through my chest. It took everything I had not to shift. If I did, my bear was going to run right to Madison, regardless of the hours it would take and the fact that she wasn’t mine.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Artie demanded, once again physically placing his mate behind his body like I was a threat to her.

“How sure are you that it’s not permanent?” Emily asked.

“He’d better be positive,” Artie said.

“What if it is?” she pressed. “What if she can’t seal the bond with the alpha tomorrow? Or what if he ends up bound to her and the alpha if she agrees to mate with him?”

“Tomorrow?” I demanded, stepping toward both of them.

Artie stepped backward, taking Emily with him as he glowered at me. “The ceremony is first thing in the morning. Tomorrow.”

Relief hit me so hard, my shoulders sagged. “Thank fuck. I have time.”

“Time to do what?” Artie asked.

“Figure out if they’re actually connected, for starters,” Emily suggested. “That seems necessary.”

“How is he going to figure that out?”

“I don’t know.” Emily tilted her head, looking past Artie’s arm so she could see me. “Any ideas?”

“I wasn’t raised around bear shifters. I don’t know all the shit,” I growled.

“Do you know anyone who does?” she checked.

“Hudson,” I said grudgingly.

“Great. Our car’s already on the road, so we don’t need to plow anything.

Let’s just…” She stepped past Artie. He tried to grab her, but she moved too quickly as she stepped past me too.

The cabin’s front door shut behind me, and she strode back to her mate’s side, taking his hand.

“There. All set. Arguing isn’t getting anyone anywhere, so let’s go. ”

When she dragged Artie back into the snow, her combat boots crunching the already-trodden path, I reluctantly followed.

I wasn’t wearing shoes.

Or a shirt.

Just a pair of fucking sweats.

But we were moving toward my female, so I wrestled the beast in me down far enough to focus on the task at hand.

The hour-long drive into Cub Lake was tense.

Artie was clearly still pissed, though he didn’t have a good reason to be. Madison was right—he hadn’t ever tried to act like a brother to her. While his reasons for keeping his distance in public were valid, he could’ve been there for her in some ways.

I knew a hell of a lot more about her than he ever had.

I didn’t have my phone, so I had no way to warn Hudson that we were coming. I hoped he was home. Considering the sun had gone down completely during our drive, it seemed safe to assume he was.

When we parked in front of his house, Emily turned in the passenger seat so she faced Artie, but was looking at me.

“I get that you’re both worried about her,” Emily said, “But you need to figure out a way to get along until we decide what we’re going to do in this situation. Whether we try to intervene in the wedding or not, fighting about it isn’t going to make things any easier. Not for us, or Madison.”

Artie tossed a hand toward me. “How am I supposed to trust my best friend after he fucked my sister and lied about it?”

“How am I supposed to trust you when you lose your shit about me screwing the sister you’ve barely interacted with through your entire life? You don’t understand the situation.”

“Then explain it to me,” Artie demanded.

A frustrated growl escaped me, and I shoved my hand through my hair. “I’ve wanted her since we were kids.”

Artie blinked.

Emily did too.

“I dream about her, still. Her scent haunts me. It’s part of the reason I refused to take a mate years ago.

I didn’t know the alpha was going to be so fucking horrible to her, either.

I thought her life would be better, with him.

That he’d take care of her. When I found out otherwise, and she realized how I felt about her, we… came to an agreement.”

Artie’s anger dissipated slightly with my words. “What was the agreement?”

“Friends with benefits, obviously,” Emily said.

“Not even that. Just casual sex until the snow melted enough for her to get out. She was planning on picking a mate at the Supernatural Resort. I guess she went there a few months back, and she’s friends with the owners.

I was going to let her go. They were going to help her find someone, so she could make sure she didn’t have to bond with the alpha.

He found us before the snow thinned enough that she could make her escape. ”

“Then how did you end up claiming her?” Artie asked.

I shook my head. “I don’t know. Lost control of my bear, I guess. Letting her leave was going to fucking hurt, so my instincts kicked into gear. She was pissed. I felt like shit for it. Still do.”

“So you unintentionally claimed the only unmated female kitsune alive,” Artie drawled.

“No. I unintentionally claimed Madison, the girl I’ve been obsessed with for more than a decade. She’s a hell of a lot more than just a kitsune to me.”

“Fuck you.” There was no heat behind his words.

“Fuck me,” I agreed.

The door to Hudson’s house opened, and I looked over as he stepped outside. He wasn’t grinning like usual, but he didn’t look suspicious about why we were there.

I opened the car’s door and stepped outside, accepting his back-clapping hug even though I didn’t want anyone’s scent on me but Madi’s.

“Hey, man. It’s been a while,” Hudson remarked.

“It has. Do you have a minute?”

“Sure. What’s up?” He released me and stepped back, tucking his hands in his pockets.

“I have a question. About bears. And mates.” My cheeks filled with air.

“You shouldn’t look that stressed talking about your mate, Bo,” Hudson said with a grin. “Or your lack of a mate.”

An uncomfortable chuckle rattled my chest. “Yeah. That’s the thing. How do you know for sure that you’re mated?”

Hudson’s forehead creased. “What do you mean?”

“I, uh, bit someone. While we were fucking. It wasn’t planned. But she’s a supernatural. A kitsune. There were no vows, so we can’t actually have a bond, right?”

The crease in his forehead deepened, and he glanced at the SUV. Emily waved. Artie tried not to scowl, and failed.

“Madison’s the only female kitsune, isn’t she?” Hudson finally asked, looking back at me.

“Yeah.”

“And she’s engaged to their alpha.”

“The wedding’s supposed to happen in the morning,” Emily called out.

“Fuck,” he said.

“Pretty much.” I grimaced.

Hudson glanced at his house before looking back at me. “Given the situation, I’d say there’s only one way to figure out where your beast stands. We’ll have to head into town to do it. Give me a minute to tell Callie what’s going on and get Reed in on it. We’re going to need backup.”

“Do I want to know why?”

“Probably not.” Hudson smacked me on the arm. “We’ll figure it out.”

When he strode back into his house, I leaned against the side of Artie’s car with a quiet groan.

Something told me his method was going to be hell.

An hour later, we had five bear shifters, a kitsune, and Emily crammed into an oversized booth in Cub Lake’s only seedy bar. Artie’s mate was the only person who wasn’t smashed up against anyone. That was purely because of Art’s possessiveness, and the guys’ loyalty to their mates.

I was sitting on the end, growling and shaking my head. “I’m not fucking doing it.”