He glanced up at me and nodded but finished chewing before he said, “Big brother. How goes it?”
“It goes. You? How’s City Hall?”
“Permits, planning, meetings, same ol’… You know all the wonderful things that keep the town going. You know how it goes.”
I did. Austin and I worked closely together as much as we could. Asheville was both our responsibilities.
I took a seat in the only empty spot that had a place setting, and it was beside Kian.
My bear and I were very pleased by this, and I looked over at him. “Hello, Kian.”
“Hi,” Kian mumbled but didn’t look up at me.
I didn’t think my heart could hurt this much. Fuck, my mate was so mad at me he wouldn’t even look my way.
I closed my eyes and drew in shallow breaths, trying not to hurl, especially since my stomach was empty. Not only that, but it would just be the icing on the cake of how to embarrass yourself in front of your mate in one easy step.
“Kian was telling us about meeting a bear.” Rhys’s voice broke through the whooshing sound in my ears.
I turned to face Rhys, and my brother’s eyes were filled with amusement. “Tell ’im, Kee.”
All eyes went to my mate, and he ducked his head. “I think maybe it was a dream,” he said. “’Cause there’s no way it really happened,” he muttered under his breath.
I didn’t like the way he sounded. Like he thought he’d hallucinated the whole thing. Great Urs, had I made Kian doubt his own mind?
“Why don’t you tell us?” I prompted gently. “I’m sure you’ll find believers amongst us.”
“In case you hadn’t noticed, we love our bears around here,” my brother Austin said with a chuckle.
“There’s an understatement,” Rhys muttered under his breath, and I pinned him with a look. Kian didn’t need to think he was being made fun of.
“Ignore my juvenile children,” my papa said, giving each of us warning looks. “Tell us what happened.”
Kian looked at Papa and nodded. He drew in a breath, seeming to collect himself before speaking.
“There was a bear.” His voice was barely above a whisper, like he couldn’t be sure if he should say it. “And he just kind of sat there, and he even let me pet him.” He sounded like he wasn’t sure it had actually happened.
We all exchanged looks, and I was kind of hoping one of them would say something because I sure as hell had nothing. But all eyes were on me, and my papa had a knowing look in his eyes that made me want to look away.
“I think,” Papa said, “everything will become clearer in the very near future.”
Kian’s brow crinkled, and he looked even more confused, and I could swear he thought we were crazy for even believing him.
“Our family has a very strong connection to bears,” Austin added.
“Mmmm.” Rhys nodded.
“You could even say we all have our inner bears,” I said.
Rhys rolled his eyes and snorted. I knew if it was up to my baby brother, he would tell Kian everything right now. But I wasn’t sure my mate was ready.
Or is it you that isn’t? Too scared you’ll chase him away when he knows the truth.
I ignored that voice and chose to focus on the fact that Kian hadn’t seemed as terrified as I’d thought he’d be.
“Can you believe I even went to get honey for him, but then he was gone when I got back?” Did he sound disappointed, or was that just wishful thinking on my part?
Rhys burst out laughing; he actually shook with it. “He went and got the bear honey—how cute is that?”
