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BEAR

Bear almost didn’t hear the tentative knocking. It was so faint that at first he thought it must be his imagination. But after a moment he realized that it must be his new bride trying to get his attention. Probably Last Meal was ready and she wanted him to come eat.

That suited Bear fine—he was getting quite hungry by now and his stomach had growled several times, interrupting his studies. He put aside the thick volume of Karpsian Treaty Law which he’d pulled from the bookcase and went to answer the door.

What he saw outside surprised and concerned him. Aleena was standing there, all right, but her pretty face was a mask of tragic woe. Also, she had one hand clutched to her stomach, as though she was in pain somehow.

“Aleena? What’s wrong?” he asked, worried at the look on her face.

She shook her head, as though she could barely summon the words at first. Then, finally, she looked up at him and blurted,

“Oh my Lord Husband, I burned your dinner!”

“What? How? Are you all right?” Bear demanded all in the same breath. The tragic expression on her face troubled him— she looked like she was about to tell him that someone she loved had died—not that she’d simply burned something.

“It was the oven—it has so many heat jets and I’m not used to that many,” she said quickly. “But I know that’s no excuse! I burned the dweezle haunch and I know how expensive such a cut of meat is. I never meant to—I’m so, so sorry!”

Then she fell to her knees and started to weep.

Bewildered at her sudden grief, Bear did the only thing he could think to do—he gathered her up into his arms and carried her to the bed chamber. Then he sat on the side of the bed, holding her in his lap, and waited until she stopped sobbing.

“All right now,” he said at last, when she was no longer crying so hard. “Tell me what this is all about? Why are you so upset just because you burned something?”

“Just because I burned something?” She looked up at him through wet lashes, her purple eyes like jewels. “That dweezle haunch was so expensive! And I know you’ll want to disavow me now—of course you will. What man would keep a wife who can’t even…can’t even cook?”

She started crying again and he noticed that she was clutching the same hand she’d been favoring earlier to her chest.

Frowning, he tugged gently at her wrist.

“Let me see your hand—did you do something to it?” he asked.

Without speaking, she uncurled her fingers, showing swollen and badly blistered skin.

Bear sucked in a breath at the sight and the doctor part of his brain—the part that had been sleeping for the past five years since his wife had died—suddenly came back to life and started shouting orders.

Second degree burns! She needs immediate treatment. Cold water first and then some cooling ointment and some skin-saver—you have some in your bag.

His bag, filled with instruments and tools and treatments—he’d always carried it with him everywhere when he was practicing medicine. But for the past five years, it had lived in a small compartment of his long-range shuttle—locked away along with the painful memories of his lost Zelia.

Luckily, his shuttle was parked in the mansion’s circular driveway, alongside the rented hovercoach. He only needed a moment to go retrieve it, but first he needed to get some cold water on Aleena’s burns.

“Come on, baby,” he said, lifting her in his arms again as he rose from the bed.

“Where are we going? Are…are you going to throw me out right now?” she asked in a choked voice.

Bear wanted to reassure her, but he wanted to treat her burns too.

“No, baby—of course not,” he said, trying to make his voice low and soothing. “I need to get some medicine for your hand but first we need to get it under some cold water. That will help the swelling and ease some of the pain you must be feeling.”

“It…it really does hurt,” she admitted in a small voice. “But it’s no more than I deserve after ruining such and expensive cut of meat.”

“Don’t fucking talk like that,” Bear said roughly, frowning down at her. “You’re much more important than any piece of meat! Who cares if you burned it?”

Her eyes went wide with uncertainty.

“You mean…you don’t…”

“Look, let’s get your hand fixed first,” Bear interrupted her.

He carried her into the fresher—what she had called “the bathing chamber” earlier—and sat her down on the side of the vast marble soaking tub. After experimenting for a moment, he found out how to make the cold water come out of the unfamiliar taps.

“All right, good,” he said decisively. “Now hold your hand under there until I can go get my kit.”

“Your kit?” She frowned uncertainly but Bear didn’t have time to explain.

“I’ll be right back,” he promised her and left in a hurry.

Luckily, his medical kit was still where he had left it. He’d been half afraid that he’d taken it out and put it somewhere else on the Mother Ship. But it was there and a quick look inside showed that he had everything he needed to treat her burn.

He could smell the burned roast as he came back through the house and bounded up the stairs. It wasn’t very appetizing, but he still couldn’t understand why it had caused Aleena to cry so hard. Maybe her tears were due to the pain in her hand—those were some serious burns, he thought anxiously, taking the stairs two at a time.

When he got back to the fresher, she was still sitting on the side of the tub with her hand under the cold water. Bear knelt in front of her and turned off the water. Then he motioned for her to hold out her hand.

“All right, let’s see now,” he murmured. Taking some absorbent gauze out of his bag, he first dried her hand and then began applying a cooling ointment.

Aleena sighed with relief as he spread the pale blue gel over her burns.

“Oh—that feels so much better! It was really hurting me,” she admitted in a soft voice.

“How did you do it? Reaching for the roast you had in the cooking unit?” he asked, frowning down at her. He was so much bigger than her that even kneeling, he was still taller.

Biting her lower lip, she nodded.

“I know it was foolish. I wasn’t thinking—I was just trying to save the dweezle haunch. It was so expensive!”

Bear was beginning to see that the cost of things was very important to her. Was that because she’d had a hard time financially after her father had stopped sending her mother money for living expenses? Whatever the reason, he wanted to put a stop to this kind of thinking right now.

“Now, listen to me, Aleena,” he said sternly. “I don’t care how much the damn roast cost— you are more important. I don’t want you hurting yourself like this again.” He nodded down at her burned hand, which was looking considerably better.

Now that the cooling ointment had mostly dried, he took out a spray can and began applying a layer of new-skin. It would adhere to the burned flesh and act as an artificial skin until her epidermis could heal itself. When that happened, it would fall away naturally.

“So…you’re not going to disavow me?” Aleena asked in a small voice.

Bear looked up from her hand and saw hope and fear in her eyes, which were still wet with tears. An impulse he couldn’t explain took over him and he put down the can of new-skin and cupped her face in his hands.

“No, baby,” he murmured, looking into her eyes. “No, I’m not going to disavow you. So please stop worrying about that—all right?”

Then, very gently, he kissed her flushed cheeks and eyelids, kissing away the tears because he couldn’t stand to see her so upset.

What are you saying? demanded a little voice inside his head. Your whole plan was to disavow her after the wormhole treaty is finished! How can you promise you won’t? If you keep her as your mate, you’ll be breaking your vow!

But Bear couldn’t help himself—seeing his new bride so upset made his heart fist in his chest. He could understand why Aleena was so worried—her own father had disavowed her mother and all but abandoned her. Doubtless she had attachment issues and feared being left the same way her mother had been left. He had to reassure her that he wasn’t going to do that to her.

Except you are going to do that, the little voice in his head pointed out. How are you going to explain leaving her when the treaty is over and done with and you’re ready to go back to the Mother Ship?

Bear didn’t know, so he pushed the little voice aside. For now, he just wanted to comfort his new bride. He pulled back to look at her and saw an expression of wide-eyed wonder on her lovely face.

“My Bear,” she whispered. “Truly, you are too kind to me.”

“I think you can use a little kindness, baby,” he murmured, stroking her cheek. Her tears were salty-sweet on his lips and her eyes were shining like stars. He had the sudden urge to kiss her somewhere else—to taste her sweet lips—but he held himself back. He couldn’t go too far with her, he reminded himself. He needed to draw the line somewhere.

Still, he couldn’t make himself get up yet. He remained kneeling before her as she sat on the side of the tub, both of them looking into each other’s eyes.

“My hand is much better now,” she said at last. “I’ll go downstairs and see if I can find something else to cook for your dinner.”

“No—forget about that for now,” Bear said. He stood at last and took her by her unhurt hand to pull her up. “We’re going out to eat.”

“Out to a restaurant?” Her eyes got even bigger, if that was possible. “But…but I’ve done nothing to deserve such a treat! If anything, I should be punished— beaten for burning your dinner.”

Bear frowned down at her.

“Listen to me, Aleena—I don’t care what I had to say in that fucked-up ceremony, I’m not ever going to beat you. No matter what you were raised to believe, a male hitting a female is wrong and I’m not going to do it.”

“But…but sometimes a woman does something inexcusable and then her husband must beat her to correct her wicked ways!” she protested.

Bear shook his head.

“You have to stop thinking like that. My people—the Kindred—believe there’s never any excuse for a male to hit or hurt a female. The Goddess made us bigger and stronger to protect the women we love and cherish—not to hit or hurt them.”

He saw a look of relief pass over her face.

“Thank you, my Bear,” she said sincerely. “I must confess, I was worried when I first saw you. You’re so big and strong, I was afraid that a beating from you might kill me!”

The thought that she’d been worried about such things during their ceremony made Bear’s heart fist in his chest. Gods—to think she’d been raised to expect getting beaten! Being a Kindred, hitting a female was unthinkable for him and the idea that the Karpsians did it regularly made him furious. But he tried to swallow his anger—he needed to make Aleena understand how he felt.

“Look at me, baby,” he murmured. Taking her unhurt hand, he brought it to his chest and put it over his heart.

“Yes?” She looked up at him uncertainly.

“I’m going to make you a promise,” Bear told her, looking into her eyes. “My strength will only ever be used to defend and protect you— never to beat or punish you. You never have to worry about me hitting or hurting you—I swear it by the Goddess.”

For a moment, it seemed Aleena didn’t know what to say. Then she whispered,

“Thank you, my Bear. That’s very kind of you.”

“You’re welcome, baby.”

Once again, the endearment just slipped out. She was so little and sweet—his first wife had been a rare Beast Kindred female. She’d been much taller and more sturdily built. Aleena was so petite—at least compared to him—that she seemed almost like a child he wanted to protect, though she had womanly curves to prove otherwise.

Bear put an arm around her shoulders and nodded at the fresher door.

“Come on—let’s get out of here and go eat.”

He would worry about the disavowment problem later, he told himself. For now, he just wanted to go get something to eat and spend some time with his new bride.