Page 43 of Mated to the Mountain Bear (Bear Protector #1)

ZARA

T he warm water laps against my skin as I sink lower into the bath, listening to the rumble of engines outside.

First, it’s just one vehicle, but then, there’s another.

Tires crunch on gravel, and doors slam with decisive force.

Deep male voices carry through the thin walls of the cabin now, their words muffled, but their presence is unmistakable.

“... perimeter secure.” That’s Beau’s professional tone, the same one I heard that first night at Rosie’s, when he promised to keep me safe.

“... lucky the entire pack didn’t...” Mason’s voice is followed by what sounds like dark laughter.

Ben’s gruff response is too low to make out, but I can imagine him standing there with his arms crossed, wanting them gone, so he can return to me. The wooden floor creaks under heavy footsteps as they move through the cabin. Someone opens and closes the front door. Checking locks, probably.

I close my eyes and breathe in the steam rising from the water.

Amber’s apartment always smelled like vanilla candles and coffee.

After she disappeared, I’d wake up expecting to hear her in the kitchen, singing off-key, while she made breakfast. The first time I slept in her bed, I cried for hours because her pillow still smelled like her shampoo.

Another engine approaches, louder, more aggressive. A motorcycle. The engine cuts, and I hear more footsteps on the porch, then Maddox’s voice joins the others.

“Pack’s been escorted to the territory line. They won’t be back.” His tone is matter-of-fact, like he’s giving a military report. “Their beta has control now. The alpha...” A pause. “He’s not doing well.”

The word ‘mate’ drifts through the air, though I can’t tell who said it. My chest tightens as reality crashes over me again. I’m someone’s mate. And that broken wolf was Amber’s. And without her, he’s dying.

The same way I almost died tonight. If that wolf had gotten past Ben, if the pack hadn’t listened to me...

“Won’t give up... we’ll keep looking...”

“Sorry Ben, we probably led him up here...”

“No shit.”

The water suddenly feels too hot, the steam, too thick. I slide down until my ears are submerged, muting the voices to distant rumbles. My toes find the edge of the tub as I let the water cover my face, holding my breath in this quiet underwater world.

Everything blurs through the veil of water.

Amber would have loved this. Finding out about shifters, having a mate who literally couldn’t live without her.

She was always the adventurous one, the one who said yes to everything, while I made lists and worried about consequences.

She would have taken one look at that wolf and probably asked if she could pet him.

But she’s gone. And I’m here.

My lungs start to burn, but I stay under. Life is so fragile, so short. Amber knew that. She lived as if she knew that.

Strong hands suddenly grip my shoulders and haul me upright.

I gasp, blinking water from my eyes as Ben’s terrified face comes into focus.

“Zara, what were you doing?” His hands are frantic as they smooth my wet hair back from my face, checking me over. “I thought...”

“Just thinking.” I stare at him, this fierce man who threw himself between me and death without hesitation, who would die for me.

Water droplets cling to his dark beard, and his brown eyes are wild with fear.

I touch his face, tracing the powerful line of his jaw through his beard, then lower, over the claw marks and scratches covering his neck and arms that already seem to be healing. So close. We came so close to losing everything tonight.

He makes a broken sound and presses his forehead to mine, then pulls me against his chest, not caring that I’m soaking his shirt, or that water is sloshing onto the floor. His arms wrap around me like he’s trying to physically hold me together.

“It’s going to be okay, Zara.”

“I know,” I whisper against his neck, relieved that this part of my nightmare is over, but sad that it means it’s time to go.

“The pack took him home. You don’t have to worry about him anymore. Maddox and Mason are doing another sweep of the property, making sure the rest of the wolves are gone. They’ll keep watch until morning, just to be sure nobody comes looking for trouble.”

His brothers are still here, still protecting us. This family of bears, who don’t even know me, came running when Ben needed them. My throat feels tight as I realize how close I came to never knowing any of this.

“Ben, I...” I want to tell him everything I’m feeling, but something holds me back, what I want to say getting stuck in my throat. Instead, I press closer, breathing him in.

“What is it?” he asks softly, pulling back to search my eyes.

“The apartment,” I say instead. “The lease is up at the end of the week. If I don’t clear out Amber’s things, we’ll lose her deposit. They’ll dump all of her stuff...”

The thoughts of all the undealt with emails and contracts presses in on me now. I’d been putting everything off, insisting I’d deal with it when we found Amber, but I can’t put it off forever.

“We’ll go tomorrow,” he says immediately. “Get everything sorted before we come back.”

We.

“It might take a few days. There’s so much to deal with. Legal stuff, her car was towed from a set on the other side of town...” I trail off, overwhelmed by the practical realities that I’ve been avoiding.

“That’s okay,” he says, but I hear the reluctance in his voice. “There’s no way in hell I’m letting you go back to that apartment on your own. We’ll do that first and figure out the rest.”

I can’t even imagine Ben there. He belongs here on this mountain, not in the city dealing with lawyers and paperwork.

But I appreciate the fact that he’s willing to go, for me.

I grip his face between my palms and kiss him hard.

He groans deep in his chest, pulling back to search my eyes. “What’s that for?”

“For just being you,” I whisper against his mouth.

“Let’s get you to bed. It’s been a long night.”

Night? The dawn light is already streaming in through the windows. When he lifts me from the water like I weigh nothing, I see the heat in his eyes that he’s trying to ignore.

He sets me on the bath mat, water pooling around my feet, as he reaches for a towel. But I stop him, my hands shaking as they find the hem of his soaked shirt.

"Show me." I breathe. "Show me what it means to belong to each other."

The growl that rumbles from his chest is pure need, and his eyes flash as something primal takes over.

I press against him, my hands sliding under his soaked shirt, to feel his skin.

His eyes close as my nails drag lightly down his chest, through the dark hair there.

When I grab the back of his shirt and pull, he helps me remove it.

His chest rises and falls with harsh breaths as my fingers find the button of his jeans.

He groans when I work it open, his hands gripping my shoulders.

"I need you, Ben."

My mouth finds his chest, tasting his salty skin and the heat of his body. I push his jeans down, taking his boxers with them, then sink to my knees on the wet bath mat. The towel falls away as I look up the length of his body.

"Zara..." His voice is wrecked, his hands tangling in my wet hair.

"Show me," I breathe out, my hands sliding up his thighs. "Show me what it really means to be your mate. All of it."

The growl that rumbles from his chest shakes the walls.

His eyes glow in the dim bathroom light as he stares down at me.

Outside, I can hear his brothers' footsteps on the porch, their low voices in the distance.

But nothing exists except this moment, this man, this desperate need to understand what we are to each other.

"Please," I whisper.

His control, his careful restraint, it all crumbles as his grip tightens, wrapping my long strands around his fist.

"You want to know what it means to be mine? I'll show you."

Tomorrow, we'll face the real world. Tomorrow, I'll sort through my sister's life and try to make sense of everything that's happened.

But tonight, I'm alive. He's alive. We're together.

And I’m going to make the most of it.