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Page 9 of Flare (Bearpaw Ridge Firefighters #17)

He seated himself next to his older sister Ellie, directly across from Emily.

Uncle Dane and Aunt Annabeth were to his left.

Maggie and Cade, with D.A. ’ s high chair between them, sat to Emily ’ s left.

Mom and Dad took their usual places at the foot of the table, with Grandma Elle and Grampa Justin presiding at the head.

The food was passed, plates were filled, and conversation flowed around him.

But Ward barely tasted a bite. Every cell in his body was tuned to Emily—the way she tucked her hair behind her ear, the slight tremble in her hand as she passed the salt, the careful way she answered Dad ’ s questions about her job in Spokane, and why she ’ d left.

“…so that ’ s when I decided I had to get out of there,” Emily was saying, her voice soft but steady. “ I couldn ’ t stay with someone who treated me that way.”

“ Did he hurt you?” Ward ’ s hand tightened around his fork, the metal bending in his grip. The bear inside him surged with protective rage, a growl building in his chest.

It was inconceivable that a shifter would try to harm their mate. The drive to protect was simply too strong.

What the hell is going on with Andrew Brunborn? Every instinct screamed at Ward to go find Andrew and tear him apart.

“ No!” Emily protested. Then she added, “ Not physically, anyway. He… I just kept having to make myself smaller around him and his family. Especially his grandmother. She treated me like a gold-digger. She ’ ll probably be overjoyed to hear we broke up.”

Ward stared at Emily in disbelief. Break up? There was no way in hell Andrew could ever “ break up” with his bonded mate. Don ’ t tell me she doesn ’ t know he ’ s a shifter? Was he really stupid enough to keep it a secret from her?

From Uncle Dane ’ s glower and Grandma Elle ’ s thin-lipped expression, they felt the same way Ward did. Maggie just looked distressed.

After a moment of silence that hung like a thick fog over the table, Grandma Elle said firmly, “ Well, you ’ re safe now. He won ’ t dare come after you here.”

Ward saw his parents trading worried looks.

In the old days, depriving Andrew of his rightful mate could ’ ve led to a bloody, brutal war between the Brunborn and Swanson clans. Then again, in the old days, a bear shifter would ’ ve been cast out from his clan for daring to mate an Ordinary human.

Nowadays… who knew what might happen?

“ If you need a restraining order or any other legal help, come talk to me,” Ellie offered. “ I specialize in domestic violence cases.”

“ And if that asshole comes after you, I ’ ll protect you,” Ward ’ s bear said, using Ward ’ s mouth.

Ward agreed whole-heartedly, but his normally laid-back inner bear taking charge like this knocked him for a loop.

Emily ’ s eyes widened. “ Thank you both.” Then she bit her deliciously plump lower lip and looked down at her plate. “ I just want him to leave me alone. And I ’ m so sorry about the trouble—”

“ Keeping you safe isn ’ t trouble , Em,” Maggie interrupted.

Everyone seated at the table murmured agreement.

Another uncomfortable silence followed.

Then Dad asked Grandpa Justin, “ So how ’ s the restaurant expansion coming along? Did the owner accept your offer?”

After years of trying to buy the building next door to his restaurant, Justin had finally convinced the owner to sell, but the negotiations had dragged on for weeks.

Justin let out a good-natured groan. “ Yeah, and that actually turned out to be the simple part,” he said in his soft Texas drawl.

“ Now, I ’ m just about drowning in permits.

The building ’ s from 1916, so I ’ ve got to get historic review sign-off just to replace the damn windows.

And don ’ t even get me started on the fire code requirements. ”

“ You ’ re still planning to knock out the shared wall, right?” Ward asked.

“ If I can get the structural permit approved before next month,” Justin replied. “ And the health department wants a separate inspection for the new prep space. But once that ’ s done, I ’ ll have twice the seating, and can finally add a few more smokers out back.”

As the conversation continued, Ward concentrated his attention on the excellent pot roast instead of staring at Emily like a lovesick stalker. He let the talk flow around him.

When Emily laughed at something Maggie said, the sound went through him like a physical touch. His bear moved inside him, urgent and possessive.

Mine , it insisted. Ours. The one .

Ward took a deep breath as pain stabbed him in the chest.

It didn ’ t matter what his bear wanted. Emily was another shifter ’ s mate. Off-limits. Forbidden.

But as dinner wore on, he found his gaze drawn back to her again and again. He memorized her smile, the way the light caught in her golden hair, the sound of her laughing at Maggie and Aunt Annabeth ’ s stories about the weirder customers they ’ d encountered at Cinnamon + Sugar.

For the first time in his life, Ward understood what some of the older shifters had meant when they talked about the agony of recognizing your true mate too late.

∞∞∞

Ward plunged his hands into the soapy water, carefully scrubbing his grandmother ’ s cherished serving platter. It was one of the special antique pieces Grandma Elle insisted they wash by hand.

The kitchen hummed with the efforts of two industrial dishwashers, a necessity for feeding the small army that was the Swanson clan.

After dinner, Aunt Annabeth had served her light-as-a-cloud baked cheesecake, topped with huckleberry preserves from last summer ’ s harvest. Then the other guests had departed after helping to clear the table.

Grandma Elle and Grandpa Justin had gone upstairs, and Cade had taken D.A. home, leaving Maggie and Ward alone in the kitchen.

As they worked side by side to load the dishwashers and scrub the pots and pans, Ward ’ s thoughts kept circling back to Emily. An impossible tangle of longing and disappointment churned in his gut.

“ You ’ re going to wear a hole right through that platter,” Maggie said at last, nudging him with her elbow as she dried wine glasses beside him. “ What ’ s bugging you, Eddie?”

Ward turned his head to glare at her. “ You knew Emily ’ s fiancé was a bear shifter.”

Maggie shook her head. “ Not until she got to my place on Thursday night, I swear.”

“ But you knew she was engaged, didn ’ t you? Why try to set us up when I went to Rob ’ s concert?” Ward let his frustration show. “ Don ’ t tell me you can ’ t smell the mating bond on her!”

“ Of course I can.” Maggie shot him a glance filled with mixed sympathy and apology. “ And no, I didn ’ t know she was engaged. Or that Andrew Brunborn had mated her.” Her mouth twisted as if his name left a nasty taste in her mouth.

Ward ’ s senses informed him she was telling the truth.

She added, “ I wasn ’ t jerking you around, cuz. I know you ’ ve always had feelings for her.”

He didn ’ t answer.

“ And she says she ’ s done with Andrew. She returned his engagement ring.”

Ward sighs. “ Does she know about shifters?”

Maggie shakes her head. “ I don ’ t think so. Andrew didn ’ t seem like the type to confide in an Ordinary. Not even his mate. Especially since she held all the cards in that relationship. No way he ’ d let her know that.”

Ward ’ s gut clenched.

Grandma Elle had promised to protect Emily if… when… Andrew came after her.

But the family sure as hell didn ’ t need Ward pouring gasoline on the flames by claiming another shifter ’ s mate.

“ I always thought you two would be good together,” Maggie said as Ward reached for the bowl that had held the garlic-roasted potatoes.

Ward turned his head and stared incredulously at his cousin. “ Did you forget the part where Andrew ’ s already mated her?”

“ That doesn ’ t matter if Emily ’ s rejected him. Look, you know I dated Andrew,” she said, her voice flat. “ And let me tell you, he was a negging creep. He also doesn ’ t take no for an answer.”

Ward ’ s shoulders tightened. He ’ d never encountered Andrew Brunborn, but he was ready to shred the other shifter ’ s hide if they ever met. “ Is that why he and Cade had that fistfight in the Hair of the Dog ’ s parking lot, just before Grandma Elle trespassed him?”

“ Yup. We met up for a ShiftMatch date. He told me I wasn ’ t his type but wanted to sleep with me anyway, didn ’ t respect my no, and then Cade showed up to help me when things got ugly.

” Her grin flashed momentarily at the mention of her husband, then expression turned serious again.

“ Mate bond or not, I can ’ t imagine Andrew treated Emily with the respect she deserves. ”

Ward ’ s jaw tightens. “ Asshole.”

“ Exactly,” Maggie sighed. “ Now she ’ s left him, and from what she ’ s told me, there isn ’ t a chance in hell she ’ s ever getting back together again with him. But when Andrew comes for her… you might lose your chance. Because she could run again.”

Ward ’ s gut twisted at the thought of Emily leaving. “ I don ’ t want to scare her off. She just got here. But if Andrew ’ s been treating her badly, she ’ s gonna need some time. And space.”

“ She needs someone solid to protect her,” Maggie said, not looking at him. “ Someone who makes her feel safe. And you? You ’ re as solid as they come, Eddie.”

He let out a breath, heart pounding, bear pacing beneath his skin. He wanted to believe Maggie more than anything, but couldn ’ t let her give him false hope.

“ You know mating bonds don ’ t work the same way with Ordinaries,” she continued. “ We can form a lifelong bond with them, but they don ’ t bond to us in return. They can walk away. Or take a second mate, like Matt sharing Sophie with Chris.”

She was referring to Bearpaw Ridge ’ s biggest scandal, when Ordinary human Dr. Sophie Markidis had taken both Maggie ’ s older brother Matt and Matt ’ s best friend Chris Langlais as her mates.

Sophie had recently returned to Bearpaw Ridge to do her residency at the shifter medical center downtown. None of the trio had shown up for tonight ’ s dinner.

Ward braced his wet hands against the edge of the counter, suddenly exhausted. He wanted Emily more than he ’ d ever wanted anything else.

For a moment, he let himself imagine it—Emily in his arms, in his home, her scent mingling with his until no one could tell where one ended and the other began.

But the thought of challenging another shifter ’ s mate bond—even a one-sided one—went against everything he ’ d been taught about ethics and clan law.

He bowed his head. “ I can ’ t. Not if Emily doesn ’ t know about bear shifters. Or mating bonds.”

Then a floorboard creaked in the dining room, on the other side of the kitchen ’ s swinging door. Ward and Maggie both froze as footsteps retreated quickly toward the living room.

Fuck. How long had Emily been standing there? And how much had she heard?