Page 10 of Delivered to My Beasts (Mail-Order Matings #22)
Imogen
My wolf wanted me to suggest a run. She’d been on alert since we first saw the pictures of them on the app, but she hadn’t said much of anything.
Truth was, she’d been so suppressed in recent days, months, years.
When I’d thrown that “power couple” line at Mateo, he’d missed the sarcasm in it.
Fortunately. When I put together what I’d heard in that bridal shop with what the beta told me that I’d dismissed and everything else, it was clear that I’d been dealing with a worse person than I’d dreamed of.
My father was not much better, willing to sell me to the only bidder, but Mateo?
Was ugly. I’d thought he was awful, but the idea of him sharing me with his betas?
What alpha would do that with his mate, his luna?
My mind had been unable to accept that possibility, and if I had any respect for my betrothed, I would have gone straight to him then.
After living the way I had, stressed, half-starved, and seeing a bleak excuse for a future that respect did not exist.
But as I stepped outside with them and took a deep breath of cold, clean night air, I could see beyond all of that. Not that anything was finalized or that I even knew what I’d be doing in the future. But with the truth out there between me and the bears, I could let go and enjoy the evening.
And I’d have had to be much less of a female not to appreciate the trio as they stripped off their clothes and prepared to take their fur.
Muscles, so many muscles but not the gym rat kind.
They came by this naturally, even if they did work out to stay in shape.
They could have been carved from marble, and I almost told them to wait.
Not shift yet. Let me just take in their purely masculine beauty.
But when they did shift, instead of three males who looked not at all alike other than their massive build, there were three bears who could have been brothers.
I knew many humans thought animals looked alike, but shifters did not make that mistake.
There were variations in color and texture of fur, shape of features, size of paws, or breadth of chest…
just like in our two-legged form. And they were not identical, but nobody who saw them together would think they were not related in some way.
Maybe their animals were; we knew remarkably little about our beasts when they were not active within us. Did they have somewhere else to go? Another plane maybe? Another mindset that didn’t include us where they spent time with one another?
All I knew was when I took a step forward toward these three giant bears, in my two-legged form, I felt no fear.
They loomed over me on their hind legs before dropping to all fours and standing very still while I moved closer, looking from one to the other, unsure whether it was all right to touch them.
Then the one nearest me, Crew, nudged me with his nose, bringing my hand to rest on his snout.
“Aren’t you beautiful,” I murmured. “Is it all right if I stroke you?”
He tipped his head back, my palm gliding higher on his head. A low rumble made me jump then giggle.
“Okay, scare the girl,” I chided, “but you won’t get any petting that way.”
He held very still, very quiet, while I explored his coat, learning that the long outer hairs were wiry and stiff, but when I delved deeper, my fingertips found the soft, silky undercoat.
After a few minutes, I began to feel uncomfortable with giving him all of my attention and turned to his friends to scratch Jax’s nose and Duke’s back.
Any human who saw us would have been alarmed, seeing a petite woman in the midst of these three, but there were no humans nearby, so far as I knew.
And Mateo and his betas? If they showed up right now to find me here, what would they do?
They were not particularly large wolves.
And these bears were huge, with giant fangs and claws.
They would protect what was theirs. If I were theirs, if they were my mates in reality and not just people to run to, I might finally have peace.
Was that what a fated mate was? Or maybe part of it?
Finally, the bears moved away from me, and I understood what they wanted. “My turn.” I’d ogled them enough; I had no right to be shy, but as I unbuttoned my shirt, they all turned away. Giving me privacy to undress.
Very unlike the males in my pack.
But I’d kept them waiting long enough, so I hurried to take my clothes off and shift.
It was a rare thing lately that I’d been allowed to let my wolf out, and it felt exhilarating when my form changed, the tickle of hairs sprouting, the sting of fangs emerging, everything.
We tipped our head back and howled in joy.
The bears faced me again, then, their amber eyes flicking over my wolf with what I hoped was approval before they turned toward the woods upslope from their home.
Duke led out, and the other two waited until I followed before falling in behind me.
They were so much larger than me that I expected them to be faster, but as we picked up speed, I had no trouble keeping up.
This high, the deciduous trees had already started losing their leaves, and the crunch under our paws warned small animals that hunters were coming.
I didn’t care. It wasn’t about that tonight.
We’d eaten plenty at dinner, and our run was just for the pleasure of it.
For allowing our animals to spend time together and get acquainted.
For being free and doing exactly what we wanted to do in the moment.
Not under the thumb of an alpha who wanted to control us.
They were alphas, all of them, but they didn’t need to be bossy.
As I raced uphill with them, I remembered how they treated one another.
Their chore chart that showed everyone did their fair share.
I wanted my name on that chart.
We ran until we tired then lay side by side on a cliff edge looking over the miles of forest below. The house was not visible from here, but it was down there somewhere under all the leaves and needles and branches.
Their home.
Would it be mine?