Something was off with him, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. Had he not wanted to do Mated for the Holidays? It wasn’t Bolt who pushed him into it and Colton and Ivan wouldn’t push their kids into anything.
“Don’t worry about him. Besides, it’s hard to think right now. That’s the way it goes when you meet your true-mate,”my bear chimed off into my thoughts.
I wasn’t sure if he was right, but I dropped it. Whatever Lero had going on was none of my business unless he wanted it to be. Instead, I should’ve been focusing on the giant polar bear across the room. He’d been watching my every move since cominginside. He had icy blue eyes, and I wanted to run my fingers over his horns just to feel them against my skin.
He glanced at my baby in Mori’s arms, and I almost rolled my eyes. Andy and I were a package deal. If that was a problem for him, he could just stick around and swap spit with Lero for all I cared.
“Slow your belly rolls,”my bear rolled his eyes.“He’s looking at the baby. That’s what people do when they see babies. He’s not trying to launch him into outer space or some shit.”
My mate made a silly face and Andy laughed, hiding his face in Mori’s chest. Maybe, just maybe, this would work out after all.
“Either way,” Bolt said aloud. “We have all this food and someone better start eating it.”
“Dig in, guys,” Lero shrugged.
“I have the baby,” Mori said.
For a long moment, I didn’t know what to do. Were we staying for the party? Did I need to call my parents and tell them I met my true-mate? I was too old for that, right? Did I run off with him to my house? What about Andy? Mori could watch the baby, but we usually lived together now. He could watch the baby at our parents’ house but all of Andy’s stuff was at home.
“Uh… Ask for his name or something,”Mori chimed into my thoughts as he headed into the kitchen with everyone else.
“You good?” Colton asked, the last person left in the living room with us.
“Yeah,” I nodded. “I’m okay. Thanks, Colt.”
“Need me, just holler. I won’t hesitate to let Ivan kick his ass if that’s what needs to be done,” he shrugged and ruffled my hair as he headed into the kitchen.
Under normal circumstances, I’d bat his hand away but today wasn’t normal. Today had been turned on its ear. I was only at Lero’s house because he said he needed a buffer between himself and Bolt about the whole Matched for the Holidays thing. Plus, I hadn’t expected Mori for another few hours. So, I had time to kill, and Sharon Claudis wouldn’t look for us here, probably. Not that anyone had heard from her any time recently. Even Mori’s dead man had lost track of her.
Without speaking, the horned polar bear sat down his trunk and his backpack and crossed the room. When he circled behind the sofa where I sat, I almost stood up and then his fingers found my shoulders. A tiny sigh escaped my lips as his big, strong fingers worked into my shoulders. Neither of us said anything as he massaged me but unless he was tenderizing me to eat we were off to a pretty good start.
“So, if the one who yelled for his carrier was Lero and you’re Mori’s twin, that means…” he thought for a second, still working those glorious fingers into all the knots in my shoulders. “Preston. I think anyway. I did read Lero’s file, but he listed a lot of people he was close to. Felt like I was studying for a history test.”
I rolled my shoulders and his fingers moved to my neck. I sank into the sofa letting his digits work the tension of out me there too. I tried hard not to think about how his fingers might work themselves into other places, but I failed miserably. I couldn’t recall a time in my life when someone rubbed my shoulders when they weren’t a paid massage therapist.
CHAPTER FOUR
Wess
Nightshade Bear Territory
Iopened my mouth intent on finding a tactful way to ask if the little one’s sire was around, but my mate let out a soft snore. I bit my lip so I didn’t laugh. It was sort of adorable that he fell asleep from just a few minutes of attention. If I had to guess, I’d say the baby’s sire was nowhere to be found or his carrier wouldn’t be this stressed out. I moved slowly, laying his head on one end of the sofa and pulling his legs up on the other. I tucked him in under the blankets and sat down in the armchair nearby. Sure, the kitchen was full of food and people, but I wasn’t about to leave him to wake up on his own to think I had disappeared. Besides, it being full of people was as good of a reason to avoid it as any other. I didn’t want to have to turn anyone into ice today.
A few minutes passed before Mori poked his head out. I bit the inside of my cheek. It looked like Preston needed to sleep to me but I wouldn’t stop his twin from waking him up. What if the baby needed something? What if Preston hadn’t eaten all day because he was taking care of his baby and…
“Do you want a plate?” Mori whispered to me, still holding the baby.
“What’s there to eat?” I asked and instantly felt like an ungrateful ass, but I was a picky eater.
“A bit of everything. A lot of things in rolls. I think Bolt got on a kick of making stuffed rolls. Some burgers. Some chicken. If none of that sounds good my parents are making pot roast for tonight but I doubt it’s ready yet. I have some jerky in my bag too.”
“I’ll try the rolls. Something with meat in it?” I asked, tentatively unsure of how much hospitality it was proper to ask for.
“I’ll be right back,” Mori said and disappeared back into the kitchen.
Should I have offered to hold the baby? Should I have said I can get it myself? How the hell did people walk around being this ‘peopled’ everyday? How did anyone know what to do? I wasn’t helpless. I fed myself this long but walking into someone else’s kitchen and filling up my plate felt like trespassing. Sure, Lero was related to my mate, but I wasn’t sure what that meant at the end of the day.
If the others of my kind saw me now they’d roll their eyes and laugh. Of course, the right answer was to snatch up Preston and the baby and head back to the mountain ASAP. They’d be safe there. I could hunt there. Mori could figure out how to visit but I had a feeling that a bear who grew up surrounded by people would be miserable on top of the mountain forever.
