Page 10

Chapter Ten

I Keep Attracting Naked Bears…

Clover

Instead of the magic my clan had depended on me to inherit, I got the gift of lucid dreams. Calling them a gift wasn’t always the best description. Sometimes they were lucid nightmares.

Alba and Anders had paid me a visit deep in dreamland. This time, they insisted they had evidence of Nana stealing the locket. We were in what looked like an old timey wild west town, which still existed in Idaho, so it could be present day, and headed into a theater. We sat on plush velvet seats, and the walls were ornate, but peeling. I didn’t have time to figure out what refused to be hidden under the coverings because the movie was about to start.

The film had been crookedly fed into the projector, and it had that black-and-white movie crackle. Anders offered me popcorn but the smell of it made me sick.

As soon as Nana appeared on the screen, Bellamy came out of nowhere and pulled the film out of the projector.

The two bears who’d brought me to the theater protested, saying he ruined the only evidence that they had of the crime.

I wanted to be furious with him, but I wasn’t. I took a deep breath, and he offered me his hand.

He pulled me in like he was about to kiss me again.

And then I woke up.

“Damn it,” I muttered under my breath as I blinked back to consciousness. I was in a strange bedroom with no naked bear shifters in sight.

But Bellamy’s scent was everywhere.

I rolled over and found a glass of water with a note propped up in front of it.

Hope you’re feeling better after some rest. Yes, you’re in my bed.

Come downstairs when you’re ready. I had the guys pick up breakfast for us.

I pressed the note to my chest. It was awfully sweet, considering this bear owed me absolutely nothing. My head protested when I lifted it from the pillow, which made that glass of water even sweeter.

Before I headed downstairs, I took a moment to look around Bellamy’s bedroom. No, I wasn’t snooping. I just wanted to get a sense of who the man had become since I’d rejected him. Everything was neat and minimal. He had a plaid comforter on the bed and lots of pillows. There was a fireplace on the wall across from the bed with a big screen TV above it. I closed my eyes for a moment, no lucid dreaming necessary to picture myself in getting cozy with a movie and a fire. On the other wall, there was a big picture window with a stunning view of the Sawtooth Mountain Range, and a comfy-looking chair with an ottoman in front of it.

Maybe you had to let him become the man he was truly meant to be , my bear suggested.

After a quick look in the mirror to make sure I wasn’t a complete mess, I ventured out of the bedroom. My heart was beating double time. Why was I nervous? This was Bellamy. We grew up together. At one time, I had believed he was my mate.

Maybe I was worried I would fuck things up beyond all recognition all over again. And this time, I wouldn’t be able to fix it.

Something smelled divine. I followed the scent into the kitchen and found Bellamy in front of the stove.

There was a takeout container full of fruit salad in the middle of the island. Two mugs, ready for coffee. A bottle of maple syrup. And plates that were about to be loaded with sausage, bacon, eggs, and…

“Are those blueberry pancakes?”

He startled at the sound of my voice. “They’re still your favorite, I hope.”

“Yes.” My stomach rumbled in appreciation as I took a seat at the island. “Didn’t take you for a chef.”

“Can’t take credit for anything but ordering. Just heating up the food the guys picked up for us from the diner.” He grinned as he took the meat off the baking tray and brought it over to the island.

That was when I noticed the dark smudges under his eyes. “Did you sleep?”

“Someone was in my bed.”

“You make me sound like Goldilocks.” I laughed as I started loading up my plate.

He raised a brow. “Was it just right?”

My breath caught in my throat. “I don’t know…I might have to give it a few more tries.”

Our gazes caught. Being alone with Bellamy made it easy to forget he hated me. That I took a sledgehammer to his heart.

After what seemed like the longest moment in history where we were stuck in this do-we-or-don’t-we limbo, he slid into the chair on the other side of me and put meat and pancakes on his plate.

“While you were sleeping, I did a little research on the area where we found you,” he said. “It’s possible my coordinates were off, but there was no camp on the map, which seems strange to me, because it looked like it was abandoned. So I’m hoping now that you’ve had some rest, you can fill in some blanks for me, Clover. Do you remember anything about how you got there? Who, if anyone, brought you there? Did they tell you their names?”

I swallowed a bite of pancake. “Everything still feels a little fuzzy. Like I’m not sure if it happened or I dreamed it.” And there were chunks of time I couldn’t account for, which for someone who enjoyed control, was scarier than I wanted to admit. “There were a lot of bears there. Like a whole clan. The two who I had the most contact with were an older woman named Alba. She was their healer. And Anders who was their alpha.”

“That’s more than I expected you to remember. Which is great.” He brightened, but there was no missing the worried furrow in his brow. “You definitely weren’t yourself when we found you.”

It was on the tip of my tongue to say he didn’t know me anymore. But he’d obviously saved my ass, ordered this bomb breakfast, and as much as I didn’t want to admit it, I was enjoying his company.

“Did they tell you anything about their traditions? You said when I found you that they’d called your nana out. Do you remember if they said anything about magic, especially if it conflicted with what we learned growing up?”

This wasn’t as clear. I remembered sitting in front of the fire with Alba and Anders, but then it was getting scrambled with the memory of the theater. Was that a dream, or did that happen too? “They told me a lot, but the details are really fuzzy. And then they were about to show me proof, but that’s when you showed up.” I rubbed my forehead, hoping it helped the jumbled mess of details fall into order in my brain. “Wait, you believe them over Nana?”

A rumble emitted from his throat. “We need to consider all options until we’re sure what happened.”

“But you were always so pro clan,” I said.

He was supposed to be alpha. Until…

“Getting rejected changes things.”

Ouch.

I put down my fork and met his gaze. He deserved that much after all these years.

“I’m sorry,” I said softly. “It all seemed so gross at the time. That I was supposed to conform and be a good little wifey bear to the clan alpha—like it would make me a legit member of the clan because if I was lucky, I’d pop out a magical spawn. Someone who could do for the clan what I couldn’t. Save it. Every time I looked at you, I felt my future, my choices slip away.”

“Fuck,” he said under his breath. It couldn’t have been any easier to hear than it was to say.

“Now I know it wasn’t you. But back then, you were one of them. You were so important to the clan, and I couldn’t believe it when they just let you leave. I thought they’d boot my ass out instead. It didn’t make any sense that I got to stay and you didn’t.”

“Is that what you wanted?” he asked.

“I only knew what I didn’t want. So maybe it was the right decision—not for me, but for you. Looks like you’re doing pretty damn good for yourself. Running your own security firm. I’m proud of you.”

Did the bear blush? There was definitely a little pink in his cheeks. “I’m actually just the interim boss while Barrett’s on his mate moon.”

“Tell me about your life, Bellamy.”

His gaze was absolutely fucking smoldering in a way that made the muscles between my legs pulse.

He leaned forward. “Do you want to be a part of it?”