Page 14

mask

. . .

gideon

“ O h, hello there, Twin! Picking yourself up a muzzle, eh?” With no idea which brother I was, Radha Bhaalu—fellow outsider and the only cashier on duty at the Barrington’s Super Center—took the half-face metal asylum mask from me with a cheery smile.

“We’ve been having a run on these. Betcha that German company has no idea why every Barrington’s near a Canadian bear shifter town keeps ordering them in bulk.

Probably think they’re for cosplay or something. ”

This was where I was supposed to put on my Callum mask. Smile. Playact friendly.

But I couldn’t match my twin. Couldn’t talk. Could barely breathe.

I’d almost let my psycho bear bite her. Almost hurt her. Almost ruined everything….

Radha’s voice barely registered over the recriminations echoing through my skull. “Lucky you got here early. This is our last one!”

Luck had nothing to do with it.

I’d thought my dick was dead. It hadn’t stirred in years. But when it did, for the first time since my dishonorable discharge, I’d come up with a plan to make sure I didn’t hurt her.

Let Callum take her first. Give her time—an hour, maybe more—to recover from her first round of sex with my twin.

Watching my doppelg?nger claim her… stretch her sweet pussy wide with a cock identical to mine… had me so painfully hard, I’d had to unzip my jeans and palm myself just to get some relief.

But it didn’t matter. I had to stick to the plan. Show her how much better we could be than her ex. Show her why she should stay with us forever and never go back to that city that wouldn’t love her the way we could.

I’d only stood up and walked over to the bed to threaten Cal—make sure he didn’t come before she did.

But then they both came. Nearly at the same time.

And her lush body kept trembling, even after Cal pulled out with a wet squelch that revealed the mess they’d made in her pussy.

And… and…

My bear lost it.

I fell on top of her—and fuck, it felt like plunging into paradise.

Her pussy gripped me so tight, so perfectly, I forgot everything. Spent what felt like both eons and seconds buried in her white-hot light.

I wanted to stay there. Live inside her forever.

But then she wrapped that soft body around me. Her helpless little cries coming faster and faster.

And I lost it. I came hard, my formerly dead dick kicking as I pumped her full. So much cum that the sound of our hips slapping together turned wet and obscene as I made my first claim.

I didn’t mean to let my bear claim her, too. Didn’t mean to try to bond bite my way into her mind without her consent.

But the next thing I knew, Cal was hauling me off her. Shoving me back. Trying to reassure her and protect her from me at the same time.

Shame corroded my chest.

Never again.

I couldn’t let that happen again. So I ran.

I drove straight to Barrington’s and parked our Ford Raptor in the closest non-handicap spot to the front doors.

The sun rose. The Vancouver bus dropped off its first load of tourists.

The shuttle picked them up for the hour-long ride to Bear Mountain.

And I just sat there. Staring at the store’s glass doors. Waiting for them to open.

Radha started fishing for gossip while she checked me out. “Is this about that tourist you were flirting with at the bar last night?”

No answer. I almost hurt her. I almost hurt her. I almost hurt her.

Outside the store’s front windows, the Bear Mountain shuttle bus pulled up again.

And Radha kept going. “My silly son was so upset when you shut the bar down early last night. I think he was hoping to meet a tourist as well. But he’s too young for all that nonsense.

I keep telling him to focus on his university studies, even if he’s home on break.

That’ll be forty-two dollars—oh, you’re fast! ”

I already had my card out and tapped it against the reader before she finished quoting the price.

This mask would make sure I didn’t bite Lark again—not before she was ready to have me inside her head.

If she ever wanted me there after what I pulled last night.

The look on her face when I ran… The sound of her calling my name… The memories slashed through my mind, sharp as claws.

I hated being away from her. But a few hours of confusion was acceptable mission fallout if it kept her safe.

I wouldn’t lose her. I wouldn’t let my bear take over again. Not ever.

“Oh, dear,” Radha murmured, eyes going to the crowd now flooding off the shuttle. “Looks like everyone wants to stock up before the Christmas Eve in July festivities start.”

She handed me the mask and receipt with a wry smile. “Hopefully, none of them needs a muzzle.”

Didn’t give a shit if they did. None of them needed it as much as I did.

I snatched the mask like Gollum and rushed toward the exit, desperate to get back to my mate.

Then froze when the bus pulled away….

Behind it stood two members of Iron Claw, Hawk’s old outlaw gang—harassing a woman who was wearing nothing but an oversized Bear Mountain Bar & Grill T-shirt that barely hit mid-thigh.

She had her back to me, hair twisted into a messy updo. But the full thighs… the bare, wildflower-honey-brown arms…

Is that…?

One of the bikers grabbed her, and she twisted, trying to yank free.

Just enough for me to see her face.

Lark.

Our Lark.

She was supposed to be back at the den with Callum and meeting the mayor. She was supposed to be safe.

But she was here. Just beyond the doors at the gas pumps.

And one of those Iron Claw fuckers had his hands on her.

I’d promised not to let her see my psycho bear again.

I’d vowed .

But the next moment, the buttons on my shirt popped. My jeans shredded, and cries of surprise exploded from all around me as the beast I’d worked so hard to contain surged through the store doors.