Page 14 of Her Beary Spicy Valentine (Welcome to Bear Mountain #2)

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i'm so sorry

hawk

I ’d just finished plating the first meal I’d cooked in ten years that hadn’t been scooped onto a metal tray when a scream tore through the air.

In the next moment, terror, regret, and apology hit me like a flash storm, flooding my two bonds like the emotions were my own.

I growled, already putting the pieces together before I rounded the half wall separating the den’s tiny galley kitchen from the front room, a breakfast plate in each hand. Still, seeing Leif’s pale-yellow grizzly hovering over our mate set my teeth on edge.

When we’d found her sleeping like an angel in her nest, I’d warned him: no crossing the threshold without an invitation. Technically, he hadn’t. His paws stayed outside the blanket pile’s border, but his long neck was stretched so far into her space, his nose might as well have been brushing hers.

And that angel of ours was now wide awake and screaming, “Get back! Don’t bite me!” while scrambling to her knees.

“That train’s already left the station, baby,” I called, glaring at the grizzly. “Blondie, I told you not to crowd her!”

Leif rose to his full height on hind legs, his big yellow head swiveling to glare back at me.

“You said you’d stop calling me Blondie after we exchanged maul bites!” he rumbled through our bond.

Already doubting that decision, I blasted my annoyance down the link. “Shift back already, Leif .”

In the next instant, his hulking bear form was replaced by a sheepish and naked guy with messy blond hair and his hands raised in surrender. Our mate blinked at him—then immediately reached for a blanket to cover herself up.

Too bad. I’d been enjoying the view. That thick and luscious body and those long braids tumbling over bountiful breasts. I got hard again just thinking about fisting a hand in her hair while I took her again and again and…

“I’m sorry,” Leif said, cutting through my carnal thoughts as he turned back to her. “I wasn’t trying to scare you. I didn’t mean to wake you up. I just came over to check on you, and then suddenly, I shifted. And you screamed…”

“He’s still new,” I interjected, setting the plates down at the nest’s border.

Leif glared at me, offense radiating off his maul bite. “I’m three years old!”

“You’re three years old?” she repeated, her forehead crinkling in confusion as she pulled the blanket up higher.

“No! I mean, I was turned three years ago,” Leif rushed to explain. Then, as if realizing he’d made it worse, added, “Not like you, though. The bear that turned me was trying to kill me, not mate me…”

Leif trailed off, his face reddening. “The point is, I’m not new—or a toddler. I’m twenty-nine. Definitely old enough to be your mate.”

Our mate just stared at him, her expression unreadable.

“So, basically brand fucking new,” I said, picking up where he left off.

“Protective instinct kicked in when he saw you, and schwoop—next thing you know, you’re waking up to a grizzly.”

“I’m really sorry,” Leif repeated.

“It’s…” She glanced warily between the two of us. “It’s okay, I guess. I was just confused.”

“I bet. That must have been so scary for you after everything that’s happened,” Leif said, his voice thick with earnest concern.

Alright, crisis averted. I left Leif to over-empathize with our mate while I headed back to the kitchen to grab the plate stacked with the four extra waffles he’d requested, along with enough forks and knives for all of us to dig in to the breakfast I’d made.

By the time I returned, our mate was sitting near the edge of her nest, the blanket wrapped around her like a sheath dress. Just outside the border, two pillows lay neatly in place. Leif was already seated cross-legged on one. I set the stack of waffles in front of him, tossed the other pillow back into her nest, and crouched down beside them to eat.

“Bon appétit,” I said as we tucked into the breakfast I’d thrown together from the stash I found in the fridge at Koda and Leif’s quarters after showering and changing: vanilla cream waffles, jam compote, and herbed scrambled eggs.

Not gonna lie, I was pretty damn proud of myself when I felt the explosion of flavor ripple through both Leif’s and our mate’s bond marks when they took their first bites.

“Wow!” Leif exclaimed, his tone laced with shock. “This tastes as amazing as it smelled!”

I caught the disbelief radiating through the bond. He hadn’t believed me when I said I was a good cook. But his surprise didn’t last long before he went right back to making dopey heart eyes at our mate.

“It didn’t smell nearly as good as you do, though,” he added, his voice warm and earnest.

Our mate’s embarrassment flared, rolling through the bond as if it were my own.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to embarrass you,” Leif said, ducking his head sheepishly.

“No, it’s just…” She hesitated, her expression softening. “I like the way you smell, too—not quite like maple syrup, but more like some kind of maple candy?”

“Maple fudge,” I supplied, figuring her American accent meant she wasn’t familiar with the Canadian staple.

“Yes! Maple fudge!” she said with a shy smile. “I actually really like it.”

“You do?” Leif asked, his insecurity melting into a big, dopey grin.

I chimed in. “Of course you like how he smells. You like how I smell, too, don’t you, baby? Cuz we’re a scent match.”

Her brows furrowed. “A scent match?”

The confusion in her expression made me frown. “Wait—are you telling me Koda spent all morning with you and didn’t break all this shit down?”

“I mean, I know I’m a bear now, and my sister is, too. She has, um… three mates. And I’m in estrus—which is this embarrassing condition Koda’s been helping me with.”

“That’s what he called it?” I arched an eyebrow, thinking about Elizabeth Bennet, Emma Woodhouse, Anne Elliot, and every other Austen character that spent nearly their entire stories in denial. “Helping you? With a condition?”

“What would you call it?” she asked, wary.

Before I could stop myself, the answer rumbled out on a low growl. “Claiming you. Breeding you. Filling your belly with our cubs.”

Her voice cracked as she repeated, “Our cubs?”

Leif and I exchanged a look, realization hitting us both at once.

I stayed silent, too pissed to speak, but Leif stepped in. “Wait, he didn’t explain the maul dynamic to you like Hawk explained it to me?”

She tilted her head. “He showed me that my sister had three mates—a maul . But I didn’t realize that…”

Her words trailed off, but the bond filled in the gaps. Still, I waited for her to keep going. My wicked bear likes the feel of her entire face flushing hot while she struggled to have this conversation with us.

“I didn’t realize that it had anything to do with… me,” she finally finished. “Or us. Or scent.”

“So you don’t like the way we smell?” I asked, already knowing the answer. “When your next wave of estrus hits, you don’t want us in that nest with you?”

She didn’t respond immediately. Instead, she took several small bites of her waffle, clearly stalling for time. I could feel the war raging in her head—everything she’d been taught about “responsible” women battling with the fresh wounds of her divorce.

I stayed quiet, letting her work it out.

Unfortunately, my third maul had the personality of a too-eager golden retriever.

“Hey, just so you know, we’re not like your ex,” Leif blurted out. “We just want to be with you—even if the cub thing doesn’t work out.”

Her fork froze mid-air. She stared at us, her expression blank with shock. Questions crashed over the bond like a multi-car pile-up.

Leif set down his fork to address the Mack truck one first. “Takoda didn’t tell you about us being able to read your mind through our bond bites, either? What were you two doing that entire time?”

“I think I can guess,” I said with a wry twist of my mouth, setting down my own fork. “Alright, baby, let’s try to get all your questions out of the way before the next estrus hits.”

“So, let me get this straight…”

Our mate’s name turned out to be Holly. Not that it mattered. To paraphrase the greatest poet of our time, Mariah Carey, she would always be my baby .

Either way, I liked the new understanding she radiated over her maul bite as she recapped what we’d explained. “Not only did Koda bite me, but he bit both of you, too. Then you two bit me, which means all three of you can read my mind, and Koda can read your minds, but I don’t have access to your thoughts at all.”

“Yeah, that’s true,” Leif answered, guilt rippling down his bond.

I just tugged down the neck of my t-shirt, baring the spot between my throat and collarbone where female bears usually make their claim. “If you want to bite us, so you can hear what we’re thinking, here’s my neck.”

Ursa, I’d spent so many nights in jail dreaming of this—a maul, a mate, a connection. Just imagining Holly claiming me like that turned my dick to steel.

But she threw up shields, her thoughts carefully blanking out as she said, “You don’t have to do that. I’m new to all this bear stuff, but I’m aware we’re in some kind of mental thrall because of this… extreme ovulation I’m going through.”

Leif frowned. “Extreme ovulation?”

“That’s what she’s calling estrus,” I explained to him with full authority, even though she was doing a surprisingly good job of blocking us out.

Holly cleared her throat. “Point being, I’m sure you only bit me because of that, so I think we can all agree not to make decisions like reciprocal bond bites until whatever… this… is passes.”

“We could agree,” I said. “But Leif and I don’t. We’re bears, baby. We see what we want, and we bite it. No questions asked. So, what’s it gonna be?” I tilted my head toward her nest.

“You gonna invite us in so your third can finally make his claim, or are you gonna force him to wait until your bear does it for you?”

“Don’t push her,” Leif said, leaping to her defense like a big, yellow guard dog. “She’s been through enough.”

“She sure has,” I agreed. “And I’d like to start making up for that shitastic ex of hers. But hey…” I raised my hands in mock surrender. “No pressure. You’re calling the shots here—at least until your bear takes over. That’s why we’re asking now, before you go back into thrall , as you called it. So, what will it be?”

I could feel Leif’s need to claim her thrumming inside him. We both felt her bear staring at him from inside her. But for all his puppy-dog eagerness, Leif waited patiently for her answer.

“I don’t like this,” she whispered, her voice barely audible. “Even if I say no, my bear’s going to make me say yes, isn’t she?”

I tilted my head. “Free will is a bedtime story humans tell themselves, like children trying to ignore the monsters they know live under their beds.”

She blinked…then smiled, pleasant surprise lighting up her pretty face, “Clara Quinn. She’s one of my favorite writers.”

“Mine, too.” I grinned, then sobered to bring her my point. “The choice isn’t really ours. But if you let us in, I promise you this, baby, you won’t regret it.”

Beside me. Leif swallowed in full agreement, his heart hammering over our maul bite. “So…?” he asked, voice cracking. “Will you let us in?”