Page 12 of Hunny and the Bear (Bearly Yours #1)

Twelve

Six days later …

S eated in a leather chair in Murphy’s office, Hunny fidgeted with a busted seam on one of her armrests, feeling both nauseous and anxious as she waited for the Alpha to begin their meeting. Tank was here, too, lurking in a corner of the room behind her like a dark knight. It was probably for the best that he couldn’t see her face, otherwise he’d know how terrified she felt being here.

And then he’d probably tell his brother to fuck off, pick her up, and carry her back to his cabin, insisting they spend the afternoon unwinding with a show on TV while cuddling on the couch under one of her ‘cozy blankets.’

That thought alone had some of the anxiety easing from Hunny’s shoulders and she relaxed in her seat, taking a deep, calming breath.

It was kind of cute—okay, more than a little cute—how protective Tank had become over the past week. He’d made her feel safe since the day he’d rescued her, but this felt different. More intense. And it had started the day she informed him she might carry more than one kit.

Henry’s probably just worried about complications during my pregnancy . Given they were now roommates, with no end to their living situation in sight, he likely wanted to make sure everything regarding her pregnancy went smoothly.

It was too bad that she wished it were something more than that. Ever since the truck incident, when she’d become so aroused by Tank she’d nearly lost her mind, she couldn’t help but look at her roommate in a very different light.

Everything Tank did now had her heart racing, her pulse beating wildly, and her pussy aching. The poor male couldn’t even slide a puzzle piece across the dining room table without her imagining his fingers slipping between her thighs and sliding somewhere far more erotic. She did her best to ignore the desire constantly swirling around inside her, and if he noticed any change in her scent while they were together, he didn’t say anything.

She’d be mortified if he did. It wasn’t like he’d made a move on her, or anything like that at all, to warrant all of her pent-up sexual emotions, and she wouldn’t throw herself at him. She’d already gotten herself into quite a mess by doing that to the last male to catch her interest. And now here she was, knocked up and rejected.

She refused to act on impulse like that again.

Besides all that, what if she took a leap, hit on Tank, and he turned her down? Why would he want to get with a female who was pregnant with another male’s baby anyway? Tank might hold her close whenever she wanted, cook her nice meals, and spend hours listening to her yap on without uttering one complaint, but that didn’t mean he had any kind of romantic interest in her. Or did he?

Could he?

Ugh, what am I even doing? I don’t need to think about this, anyway! I just got out of a shitty ‘relationship .’

“Are you ready?” Murphy asked, drawing her from her thoughts. He filed away the last paper on his desk before leaning back in his worn leather chair.

“As I’ll ever be,” Hunny answered, sending him a small, tremulous smile.

“There’s no reason to be nervous. My brother has ensured this is more of a formality than anything else.”

Relieved, Hunny sagged in her seat, her hand going to her still-flat belly. “He has?”

Murphy cast a hard glare over her shoulder before returning his gaze to her. His expression softened marginally. “You’ve gained quite the fan club since coming here, Hunny. My mother is fond of you, and Tank is—”

Tank mumbled something from the corner of the room.

“Be quiet,” Murphy snarled at Tank, “or I’ll toss you out on your ass. You’re lucky I allowed you to attend this meeting, anyway.” Murphy huffed before sending Hunny an apologetic look. “ Tank is forgetting that he’s not the damned Alpha of this clan.”

So attuned to Tank, Hunny felt more than heard him stir from the back of the room. “I don’t want to cause any problems,” she interrupted quickly, looking over her shoulder and narrowing her eyes on the bear shifter. Behave , she mouthed.

Tank paused abruptly, like he’d just gotten caught stealing from the cookie jar. A delicate shade of red stained the top of his cheeks, just above his beard. After an awkward silence, he sighed loudly, moving back to his previous position in the corner.

“Now that we’ve settled that,” Murphy stated with a snort, “I’d like to talk to you about your plans to stay in our territory.”

“I’m not sure how long I’ll stay,” Hunny replied truthfully. Tank made a deep, irritated sound behind her that had her adding, “But I don’t have plans to move on, either.” Especially if things went well today.

Please let things go well .

“Well, you’ve made an outstanding impression on my mother, and she’s put in a good word for you.” He sent Tank a sharp look before returning his attention to Hunny. “But I do have questions for you, and based on your answers, you may not agree with my decision here today.”

Hunny slid her hands from the armrests to her knees, squeezing them gently. “I’m ready,” she reiterated.

Murphy nodded. “Good. How old are you?”

“Twenty-two.” Even as she said it, she felt like she was two decades older than that. The things she’d gone through in the last five years alone had aged her, at least spiritually. Mentally, also. Suddenly, she realized something. Glancing over her shoulder at Tank, she asked, “How old are you?”

He smirked. “Thirty-two.”

“Wow, you’re practically an antique,” she teased. Figures he was a decade older than her. She’d always loved an older male.

Stop it!

Murphy chuckled, and she whipped back around, raising a condescending brow. She liked to tease Tank, but she didn’t want someone else laughing at him for any reason. “Aren’t you even older than Henry is?” she asked haughtily, pursing her lips in disapproval. “I wouldn’t be laughing, if I were you.”

Sobering, Murphy cleared his throat. “What nest did you grow up in?”

“Elder Creek.” Hunny shifted uncomfortably in her seat, her knuckles turning white from the grip she kept on her knees. “Just outside of Tulsa, Oklahoma.”

“You’re a long way from home. What made you leave?”

“My parents died,” Hunny admitted reluctantly, feeling guilty Tank was finding out so much about her now instead of days ago. Should she have talked to him in depth about all of this beforehand? It had never come up, and he rarely pushed for any answers. He knew she was a lone shifter, but she hadn’t exactly specified all the details. Considering how protective he’d become, she knew he’d get pissed when he found out everything.

Murphy stared at her, almost like he could sense there was more to the story. She grimaced. “My old Buck … he wanted to mate with me shortly after they passed away. I didn’t feel safe there after rejecting him, so I left shortly before my eighteenth birthday.”

“That rat bastard,” Tank snarled. “I’ll fucking gut the prick—”

“Enough, Tank,” Murphy warned. “Another outburst, brother, and you’ll need to wait out front.”

Hunny winced, guilt hitting her anew. “It’s my fault. I should have told him before now.” She looked back at her surly bear shifter apologetically. Tank’s eyes found hers, and he relaxed marginally, crossing his arms in front of his chest. Turning back to Murphy, Hunny added, “I haven’t joined another nest or anything since. And I rarely stay anywhere for more than a year, at most.”

Murphy cocked his head to the side. “Why not?”

“No place has ever felt like home.” Until now .

The Alpha stared at her pensively, like he was weighing her words. “When my brother found you in the woods, a she-wolf had attacked you. I’d like for you to tell me what happened there.”

Taking a deep breath, Hunny did just that, giving him a brief rundown of her time in Montana, Jason … everything. When she finished, he didn’t seem shocked, so she could only assume his mother, and maybe even Tank, had informed him of a few things.

It didn’t bother her if they had. They were only looking out for the safety of their clan. She also knew that Tank wouldn’t tell his brother anything if he didn’t feel it was absolutely necessary.

“I’ll be frank, Hunny,” the Alpha announced suddenly. “I don’t give a shit about your mated status, or why you were rejected. Jason is a piece of work. You were lucky to escape him.”

Hadn’t Tank said something very similar only a few days ago? Just what kind of wolf pack was Jason running?

“You’re not the first one to tell me that.” She shivered as a chill went down her spine. “I’m assuming you were about to throw a ‘but’ in there somewhere, though,” she added helpfully, nerves clawing at her gut.

“I don’t trust lone shifters,” Murphy disclosed bluntly. “A few bad experiences in the past have left me jaded, and that’s not including the reputation your kind possesses. Most lone shifters are kicked out of their packs, clans, or nests because they’ve done something criminally wrong. While it’s not unheard of for a shifter to willingly leave their homes, it is unlikely.”

She didn’t feel offended by his assessment—it was par for the course at this point. “I’m not lying about why I left, if that’s what you’re hinting at.”

Murphy stared at her intently for one long moment. “I’m willing to let you stay in our territory on a trial basis.”

Hunny sighed in relief, feeling like she’d just passed an exam she’d forgotten to study for.

Murphy’s gaze shifted from her to Tank. “You need to give us a minute, brother.” As soon as Tank began to argue, the Alpha held up his hand, silencing him. “The rest of this conversation isn’t for you. I’ve tolerated enough of your outbursts. This’ll only be a minute.”

Tank walked up to the desk then, standing right beside Hunny. Dropping his hand onto her shoulder, he waited until she looked up at him before he asked, “You good, darlin’?”

She was tempted to beg him to stay, but in the end, she nodded her head, sending him a reassuring smile she didn’t feel. “I’ll be fine.”

Grunting, Tank sent a hostile glare to his brother before storming toward the door.

“I want to be honest with you, Hunny,” Murphy began as soon as Tank closed the door behind him, leaving the two of them alone. “I don’t like the idea of a lone shifter staying in my territory. I hate it, actually. If you want to join our clan, that’s one thing, and I’d only consider it after a thorough investigation into your background. But right now, you’re an unknown element. I don’t like those.”

Her heart clenched, and her mouth dried from panic. “Then why agree to let me stay at all?”

Murphy pointed to the door. “Because of Tank. I haven’t seen my brother act like this since he was a teenager.”

Her brow furrowed in confusion. “Like what?”

“ Alive,” Murphy confided passionately, running a hand through his hair as he released a shaky breath. “It fucking guts me to say it, but my brother hasn’t been living. Not for a long time. He’s been a shell of his former self since Cassandra died when we were younger. And I never thought I’d see the brother I knew again. But he’s changed in the last week. Since meeting you.”

Cassandra . That had to be Tank’s true mate. She had a pretty name.

Suddenly, Hunny recalled the first night she saw Tank. How she’d looked into his big brown eyes and seen a lonely soul; a sad, kindred spirit. She’d seen a broken male staring back at her then. But now?

She didn’t see that void in him, not like before. Hardly at all, actually. Only when he seemed lost in thought, or when the silence between them stretched on for too long.

“And you think I have something to do with this change?” Hunny guessed quietly, warmth filling her chest at the notion.

“I absolutely do. So I don’t care if you got thrown out of your nest, or if you’re some evil bitch and that’s why your mate rejected you. I care about Tank. And if you’re what’s good for him, I’m more than happy for you to stay.” Murphy pointed at her then, his eyes growing hard. “But if you hurt him, or harm this clan, then I’ll see to it you regret that decision.”

Hunny stared at him like a deer caught in headlights for several seconds as tension filled the room, his vague threat hanging over them both. It was tempting to duck her head and nod in acknowledgment before fleeing out the door, but she was tired of Alpha males thinking they could walk all over her.

Submissive didn’t mean weak .

And she wouldn’t let Murphy think he held all the power, not when she wasn’t a member of his clan. Yet . Hopefully, what she said next didn’t fracture her chances in the future. She took a deep, steadying breath before looking him dead in the eye.

“I don’t want to hurt anyone, least of all Henry. You can believe what you want about lone shifters, and even think I’m full of shit for telling you why I left my nest; I don’t care.” She shrugged nonchalantly. “I can leave right now and never look back. I’ve done it before.”

He narrowed his eyes on her, no doubt thinking the same thing she did; if she left now, Tank might retreat into himself again. She let that truth dangle between them for a handful of seconds before adding, “But I don’t want to leave. I think your brother is wonderful, and I—” Hunny swallowed thickly. “It’s been a really long time since I’ve woken up and felt genuinely grateful for the direction my life has taken. So I’d love to stay for as long as I’m welcome.”

“Great,” Murphy supplied shortly. He stood from his chair, waiting patiently for her to do the same.

She did, dusting off her jeans. “What would I need to do to become part of your clan?” she blurted out suddenly, shocking herself as much as Murphy. “I mean, if that was an option. You know, ‘lone shifter’ status aside.” She air-quoted with a roll of her eyes.

“Well, my first suggestion would be to lose the attitude,” the Alpha grumbled. “But then, I’d suspect that’s part of your appeal to my brother.”

Hunny scoffed, crossing her arms and scowling. “I don’t have an attitude.” And he thought Tank found her appealing? Her heart did a little somersault at the thought.

“Alright, Tank Jr., calm down,” he joked dryly.

She raised her brows. “Oh wow, who’s got the attitude now, Murphy?”

“Christ, you’re already pissing me off. You’ll fit right in.” He ran a hand down his face in exasperation. “As for your question, we’ll see how the next few weeks go before we look at any more permanent decisions.”

“I can work with that,” she said softly, hope fluttering in her chest. “But don’t mention it to Henry. Please,” she added, realizing she was bossing an Alpha around. “I just haven’t decided anything yet, and I don’t want him to get his hopes up. Not that my staying would matter to him—”

“Oh, I’m sure he doesn’t care one way or another,” Murphy cut in, heavy sarcasm lacing his voice.

“Ugh, shut up !” Hunny exclaimed, leaving his office.

His chuckle followed her out.