Page 4 of Her Beary Spicy Valentine (Welcome to Bear Mountain #2)

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you’re making a mistake

12 hours earlier

takoda

“ S ir, c’mon. Please. You can’t put me in here! I just fell in love at first sniff!”

Constable Leif Bjorn’s voice cracked, desperate and pleading, as I shoved him and Hawk—the Iron Claw cofounder—through the station toward the holding cell in the back.

“I didn’t even get her name!”

Only years of training myself never to show emotion kept me from rolling my eyes. This was the bear they’d sent to serve under me at the detachment station?

It didn’t matter that the fight had taken place during his off-duty hours. An official arrest on the brand-new constable’s record would mean automatic suspension from the RCMP—and his probable removal from the Bear Mountain detachment.

Truth be told, I wouldn’t mind that last outcome at all. I’d been just fine running the detachment alone before command decided to send this overlarge, blond grizzly to “assist” me by asking too many questions, eating way too much food, and taking up way too much room in the timber-log cabin we’d been given as sleeping quarters. Getting into a fight during denning season was a good thing. For me.

So why did irritation prickle at the back of my neck as I listened to him whine about the human woman he’d just met?

“Get in the cell,” I growled, shoving him into the space behind Hawk. The metallic clang of the barred door echoed through the small station as I slid it shut, ignoring the constable’s kicked-puppy expression.

“You’re making a mistake,” Bjorn insisted, wrapping his large hands around the bars. He and Hawk had beared out their heads on the walk over, so his face was pristine now, the fight damage healed, leaving behind the patrician features I’d been forced to grow familiar with since the RCMP saddled me with another officer at my detachment. But his desperation remained wild and frantic. “She’s my scent match. What about this are you not understanding?”

I ignored the uncomfortable twinge in my chest and focused on changing the lock code on the holding cell’s keypad to one Bjorn didn’t know.

“She’s my scent match too, Goldilocks,” Hawk said from behind Bjorn, his gravelly voice steady and unbothered.

I looked up from the keypad to find the town’s second-largest black bear—after me—leaning lazily against the far wall, smirking at Bjorn, and a flicker of unease went through me.

It had been over a decade since I’d last seen Hakan—or Hawk, as everyone in the village and his motorcycle gang called him. Ten years ago, I’d personally escorted him to the shifters-only jail in the Yukon for one of my first assignments as the Bear Mountain detachment officer. Back then, I’d felt a pang of guilt handing over someone I’d once respected and admired—right up until he pleaded guilty to a long list of criminal charges.

When I got the message about his early release, I’d even debated waking his family to tell them the news.

But now? That familiar smirk was just one more thing to set my teeth on edge. I clenched my jaw to keep from saying anything.

Unfortunately, the new constable wasn’t nearly as skilled at masking his emotions.

“You? You’re joking, right?” Bjorn whipped around, taking Hawk’s bait like a giant yellow fish. “You seriously think she’d pick someone like you over me?”

“Someone like me?” Hawk pushed off the wall, his amber eyes gleaming with a predatory edge. “You think you’re better than me, Goldie?”

Bjorn didn’t hesitate. “Yeah, I know I’m better than some criminal who could never offer her a life filled with stability and love like I could.”

Stability and love.

I punched the last number into the keypad with more force than necessary, bitterness bubbling just beneath the surface. The new outsider constable didn’t even have a maul—or the faintest idea what taking on a mate in Bear Mountain actually meant. Yet here he was, squabbling with a full Ayaska over a human who didn’t even belong here.

A human who…

My bear stirred, and I shoved him down hard before that thought could unravel—both him and me. Tonight was already a mess. I wasn’t about to make it worse by letting emotion—or anything else—get in the way of doing my job as a Peace Officer.

But Hawk had no interest in keeping the peace.

“If you’re such a great match for our mate, why are you in here with me?” Hawk’s smirk sharpened. “Why aren’t you out there with Koda, trading maul bites and going to get our girl?”

Bjorn’s condescending expression faltered, confusion flickering across his face. “Sergeant Takoda doesn’t have anything to do with my scent match.”

“Sure he does.” Hawk’s sharp amber gaze shifted to me, his grin twisting wider. “He’s just better at hiding it. Aren’t ya, Koda?”

Only friends and family called me Koda. I was estranged from most of my family, and after Ash, I no longer did friends.

“I don’t know what you did to get your sentence halved.” My voice was tight as I glared at Hawk. “But they should’ve buried you under that jail.”

“Bet you’re wishing that had happened. Then you’d have our cute little box of chocolates all to yourself.”

The silence that followed was heavy, a third presence in the room, watching and waiting.

“That’s not…” Bjorn’s words trailed off, his sea-blue eyes locking onto me. “That’s not true, sir... is it?”

My throat tightened, but no words came. My silence was damning.

“Told ya,” Hawk said to Bjorn, his smug look cutting into me. “We’re tucked away in here because his bear’s nose is open, but he doesn’t want to make a maul. Especially with us.”

“Maul,” Bjorn mumbled, glancing to the side. “That’s all the Ayaska stuff with the three guys having to date one woman.”

“One female,” Hawk corrected, his gaze refusing to leave me. “But other than that, yep.”

A troubled look crossed Bjorn’s face, confusion battling shock. But then he re-gripped the bars and directed his plea at me. “Listen, I don’t know—well, anything about this maul stuff the Ayaska are into. But if this is true—if she’s ours—both of ours—then you’ve got to tell me what to do. And you’ve got to let at least me out of here.”

“There is no ours,” I replied, voice tight. “She’s human, and you’re both delusional.”

Hawk chuckled low, the sound curling in the air like smoke. “Delusional, huh? Same kind of delulu that’s got you clenching your fists and refusing to look either of us in the eye?”

I hadn’t realized my hands were balled into fists until Hawk pointed it out.

“C’mon, sir.” Bjorn’s knuckles turned white against the bars. “If we’re supposed to be in some kind of three-way together, you’ve definitely got to let me out. I’ll do whatever you want. Follow whatever orders you give me. I just want to be with her. I’ve never felt anything like this in my life. It’s like my heart is about to explode out of my chest!”

“Enough!” My voice came out harsher than intended. But I couldn’t take this anymore.

I turned on my heel and headed toward the station door, gritting out, “You’ll get a phone call and the opportunity to post bail tomorrow during official station hours.”

That quieted them. For a few seconds.

Just as I reached the door, Hawk called out, “Can’t outrun your nose, Horse.”

I hated that nickname that the Iron Claw MC had pinned on me just because I preferred to use my horse, Sentinel, as my main mode of transportation. But I let the station’s heavy winterized door slam shut behind me without responding.

Outside was quiet. Too quiet.

It gave me too much time to think—about what Hawk had said.

And about that human’s scent.

It had hit me like a freight train the moment she walked into the station, freezing me in place. Sweet, warm, maddeningly tempting.

I’d never been one for sentimental holidays, but Hawk had described her perfectly: an entire box of Valentine’s Day chocolates had walked into my station without warning.

Big brown eyes, dark, creamy skin, a self-deprecating smile, and curves that defied the confines of her wool city coat. She was heavier and chattier than her younger sister. Still, I’d recognized the connection even before she introduced herself as the sibling of the female my brother and his maul had taken as a mate last December.

However, Holly Winter’s effect on me had been much, much different than Noelle’s.

That scent.

Talking to her had felt like trying to keep my composure while quietly drowning.

After I’d sent her away, my mind flickered back to Cody parading Noelle around the Bar & Grill on New Year’s Eve, just before hibernation began. Supposedly, he wanted to show her the businesses he co-owned with his grizzly brothers—this place and the Bear Mountain Inn, the town’s only hotel, which was located a little further up the road. But really, it had been a trophy display.

Noelle had reeked of Ash and Mak, as if they’d marked her all over before letting their third maul take her to a place just a couple of kilometers down the road.

I’d burned with indignation before Cody even brought her over to the booth I was sharing with Bjorn. And when I’d looked up to issue a terse hello, I’d felt… nothing. No jealousy. No anger. Just mild annoyance at the interruption. Her scent had done nothing for me.

But Holly? Whatever she stirred in me wasn’t cold. And it wasn’t indifferent.

Also, her car was still parked outside the station.

Goddamnit .

Instead of heading straight to my sleeping quarters behind the station, I retraced my steps toward the bar, teeth gritted with determination.

If I had to shove that curvy box of chocolates back into her rental car myself, I would. I most definitely would...

Big mistake. Just the thought of touching her again made my stomach cramp with need and my heart static like something electrocuted.

"I’ve never felt anything like this before! It feels like my heart is about to explode out of my chest!"

I wished to Ursa I had no idea what Bjorn was talking about. But that was exactly how it felt when I’d physically shoved her out of my station house earlier. How could one person—one completely unwanted and unexpected human—smell that good?

My normally reserved bear clawed at my chest, growling, threatening to rise if I didn’t track her down and...

A series of lewd, obscene, completely wrong images filled my head. Both of them. My mind swam, drowning in carnal thoughts, while the head below my riding breeches stirred to life despite being eight days away from my next scheduled “hand release.”

I stopped in my tracks and squeezed my eyes shut until the pictures subsided. Until my bear backed down enough for me to regain control.

But it had been close— too close for a lone bear who no longer desired a mate or a maul.

I had to get her out of here.

Get her on the road and out of my life so that I could get on with pretending she’d never walked into town.

But something caught my eye halfway to the bar: a scarf. Bright red, lying in the snow.

I bent down and brushed white powder from the soft fabric. Her scent hit me instantly. Caramel wrapped in rich chocolate.

Holly .

I’d never had a sweet tooth, but my bear growled low, rolling around in the scent like it had just claimed some great prize. The smell of her wrapped around me, tugging at my hunger receptors. And my teeth.

I should have left it there. Dropped it in the snow and kept walking. But my hand clenched tighter, betraying me.

More dark, unwanted thoughts uncoiled before I could stop them. Taking the scarf back to my apartment. Pushing down my pants. Wrapping her sweet scent around my?—

No.

Shame twisted in my gut as I ground my teeth and shoved those thoughts away. But I still couldn’t let go of the scarf. Instead, I looped it around my neck in an automatic, helpless motion. My bear rumbled in approval, but I hated it.

This was pathetic. Weak.

If I didn’t find her and get that human-shaped blizzard of temptation out of town, then?—

I froze, the thought falling away.

Next to the Ayaska Village boundary sign, a trail of prints broke the pristine snow.

Small, shaped like those ridiculous trainers Holly had worn into the mountains.

But they weren’t alone.

Two sets of motorcycle tracks accompanied by much larger impressions in the snow followed the same path. Precise. Deliberate. Predatory.

The other two Iron Claw bikers from the bar.

They’d followed her. Quietly walking their bikes up the Ayaska Village path so they wouldn’t be heard. By the sleeping villagers—or the prey they were stalking.

Holly hadn’t gone home like I’d told her.

And those criminal MCs? They were right behind her.

My bear snarled inside me, and that deduction was the last clear thought I had.

Before I could stop it, my bones swelled, and the sound of ripping fabric tore through the cold air as fur erupted from my skin. Every muscle in my body surrendered to the shift, and my snarl turned into a roar as I charged up the trail.