I didn’t know if that was true, but Declan’s smiles were convincing. Maggie was positive in that aggressive way, so first-hand experience told me it usually hid something else. I wasn’t sure if we were close enough for me to dig up his ghosts.
“Ward’s already up with breakfast cooking,” I said.
Declan sighed. “That man. You mated one with house training and giant muscles.”
I did my best not to laugh and wake up the rest of the brood. “They came in handy when I plummeted out of the sky. Did you see him catch me?”
He patted my good leg. “I did, luckily, after Ward stopped me from bleeding out. If you don’t finish that mate bond with that man, I’m going to.”
I laughed, blushing. Declan meant it as a joke, but our misunderstandings nagged me this morning. Ward had asked me to trust him. Literally, falling into his arms should have sealed the deal. Instead, the best I came up with after he defended me was fear.
“Declan, I don’t know how to love someone. My sister and my ex broke that part of me.” I shook my head. That wasn’t good enough. Honestly, Ward and I both deserved much more. “What am I supposed to do? I’m hopeless at anything like that now.”
Declan’s look turned sly. “Well, I do know a few juicy bear mating secrets.”
I scooched a little closer to him. “Don’t be stingy.”
He smiled like he was presenting me with life’s greatest secret. “Well, I’ve heard salmon is a common gift.”
“Don’t listen to that moron.” Noora crawled up behind me and started braiding my hair. If today was anything like yesterday, I would need it out of my face. “Use your sexual wiles on him. Grab his face and demand he join you as one with his massive?—”
“Don’t spread your techniques around, woman,” Brightpaw said, laughing as he sat up in their blankets.
More than sex clearly needed to happen for the mate bond to finish, but I trusted they knew the shifter protocol better than I did. Perhaps that’s how it had to start. If our first round was any indication, it wouldn’t be a hardship. “I have the sexual wiles of a cup of mead. If I attempt any grabbing or wrestling, I might break more than a rib this time.”
All conversation stopped. Three pairs of eyes gazed back at me with varying levels of shock.
“You what?” Declan asked.
“Um…” There was no place to hide in our rumpled bed roll.
“Well, maybe you tone it down a little bit,” Noora amended. “You just say ‘I love you’.”
“I trust you,” Brightpaw supplied.
Declan cleared his throat. “Your love runs deep in my veins. I’ll take your darkness into my keeping along with your light. I could not live without the joy of my life and half of my soul.”
We all stared at Declan with open mouths.
“That. Go with that,” Noora said.
The hype was real, even if I didn’t think I could say the beautiful words Declan supplied. Noora tied off my braid and nudged me forward. Right. Now I had to do something about it.
Ward still had his back to me as I approached. His gigantic hands brushed out Greg’s mane.
“Ward, before we get to the next almost-dying bit. Is there anywhere we might… stop and… chat?” His hands stilled on Greg. Maybe I couldn’t wait to find a place to chat or I would never get this out. “I just wanted to say… to say…”
Time slowed down to molasses as he turned around.
“Abner?” My ex’s name spit out of my lips like a curse. I blinked hard. Wasn’t Ward just standing there?
“Huh? What were you stumbling over again, Evening?” Abner smirked.
I always hated that nickname. It didn’t even make sense. He gave it to me on our first date and it should have been a red flag when he wouldn’t stop using it.
“I… I was just looking for someone.” I took a step back, surveying the brood as they slowly woke up. Was I crazy? My ex really slouched in front of me, right? Everyone else saw him?
“The stutter’s new. Maybe Mags can help with that, too. I’m sure she has a crystal for it.”
