Page 8 of Coveted By The Bear (When Worlds Collide #1)

M y inner Grizzly preened the second I received a text alert on my phone. It was from Hope.

Got here. Texted like I said.

Um. The part for your bike should be in the last delivery of the day.

OMG. I texted you like three times now.

Last one. Promise.

Oh, I forgot to say goodbye. So this is the last one. Officially. For now. Okay, bye-bye.

Five texts. She sent me five texts. I was smiling so damn hard as I read them.

My inner monster was doing somersaults, and still, I stood there grinning like an idiot.

Then I remembered I should probably text her back.

Glad you got there safely. Don’t work too hard. I’ll see you later, Pretty Girl.

My chest felt tight, but it was a good feeling. Like I was happy. I wasn’t used to that feeling, but I was almost certain that’s what it was.

I walked to the backyard, to the stack of lumber, and removed the tarp. After Hope told me about her plans, I figured this would be a good way to pay her back for her kindness.

I was good with my hands. Had worked for a bit in construction, plus I’d helped with more than a handful of home projects like this when I was younger.

Once I downloaded a set of plans for the deck, I searched for tools and supplies in the garage. She was a neat little thing. Organized too.

It wasn’t long before I found everything I needed. But before I started working, my phone rang, and I grabbed it, frowning at the phone number.

It was one I didn’t recognize, but I clicked the green button, anyway.

“You think you can run away and hide after what you did?”

I recognized Tiegs, my old Alpha. But he sounded strange. Crazed even.

“I should have sent you to join your parents the second I got stuck with your sorry ass. I saved you! You owed me!”

“I paid that debt, Tiegs. I owe you nothing,” I returned.

“We’ll see, Soldier. I will give you one chance to make this right. Come back and claim the Sow.”

“No. Zara is not mine to claim. And I’m not your Soldier, you are not my Alpha anymore, Tiegs. That was your choice. You made it when you sent me away!”

“You’ll regret this, Miles. You belong here. With your Clan!”

Visions of Hope filled my head. Her sweet smile. Her tantalizing scent. Her bountiful curves.

No, Tiegs was wrong. I didn’t regret a thing.

“I belong right where I am. I’m not your Clan. Not anymore. I wish you well, Tiegs.”

“YOU WILL OBEY ME!”

His snarling roar made me hunch my shoulders, but even though I recognized the Alpha command in his voice, it did absolutely nothing to me.

My entire body shook with anger, but I wrestled with my Bear to keep my skin.

Once I convinced the beast that the relief I felt at not being forced to listen to the old Shifter’s edict outweighed my fury, he backed off.

Even my monster couldn’t argue with the fact that we’d both rather be working for our mate, then fucking around with Tiegs and his poisonous ways.

“Goodbye, Tiegs,” I said, ending the call, and hopefully that chapter of my life.

Regret over the way everything happened was something I knew I would have to put to rest, eventually. It was still too new, too raw, right now for me to forgive myself.

I knew deep down that Zara was better off without me. Just like I knew Hope was my fated mate.

I wanted to redeem myself for her. I wanted to make the wrongs of my past, my most recent past especially, right, so I might be worthy of the sweet, soft normal the universe picked out just for me.

I was only a man. A Bear. One Shifter among billions of living, breathing beings.

Who was I to question the Fates?

If this was where they led me, maybe I owed it to myself and to Hope to give it a chance.

I knew I had to try. Building her a deck seemed as good a place as any. I got to work and tried not to flinch at the spark that flared to life inside my chest.

It was small, but it was there. And that made all the difference in the world.

September evenings were cool, and my vision was damn near perfect in the dark. But just in case she had nosy neighbors I set up a halogen light on a stand, careful to keep it in the back so it didn’t blind me.

The hours passed quickly. I had the whole frame up and a good portion of the deck floor installed by the time I looked at my phone. It was almost one AM, and my inner Grizzly was scratching at me to go check on Hope.

Something was nagging at me to call her, so I did, frowning when she didn’t answer the first round of ringing. I finished putting all the tools away and covered the rest of the lumber for the night and I dialed again, jogging to the back of the house.

Her home was a few miles away from the auto shop, but I would be there in no time. I could use my supernaturally enhanced speed as long as I stuck to the forest.

“Hello?” she answered, and my beast rumbled.

Whatever angst I was feeling ebbed away. Like just hearing her voice calmed the monster in me.

“Hey, how you doing, Pretty Girl?” I asked, my face stretched by my huge grin.

I couldn’t wipe it off if I tried. And I didn’t even want to.

“Good! I got a surprise for you,” she said, and yeah, she was smiling too. I could hear it in her tone.

“Oh, yeah? What’s that?”

“Bike’s all done. Got her engine purring like a kitten,” she said, and I could tell she was proud of her work.

“Oh yeah? I think I need to see this for myself.”

“You do? Well, technically I have a break coming up in a little while if you wanted to do a video call?—”

Something crashed in the background, and Hope’s voice faded out as she turned her head.

“Hope? What is that?” I asked, my lazy jog turned into a run as I waited impatiently for her to answer.

“Um, I don’t know. Sorry, Miles, I have to check what that sound is. I’m just gonna put the phone down. I’ll be right back,” she said.

But I heard something in the background. Something her human sensibilities couldn’t hear if she tried.

Growling.

I heard growling, and it was familiar.

Bear.

My Grizzly was right. It was a Bear. Some motherfucker was stalking my sweet, unclaimed mate.

“Hello? Who’s there? Oh my God!”

I could hear Hope’s voice easily with my Shifter hearing, and it damn near stopped my heart when she screamed.

Fuck. No!

My Shift took over before I had a second to even think. My Grizzly burst out of me, a roar piercing the night as I pushed myself faster than ever before.

The moon was bright, casting shadows across the forest floor as I leaped over fallen branches and gnarly tree roots. This part of Barvale was covered in dense thickets of bushes and trees.

Every cell inside of me was hellbent on one thing and one thing only, getting to Hope quickly. The scenery blurred by as I pushed my muscles to move faster.

Hurry.