“Well, I for one am very impressed,” she said as they walked. “What you've built here...it's really wonderful. Thank you for showing me.”
Grant's eyes crinkled at the corners as he smiled. “My pleasure. And hey, any friend of the trees is a friend of mine. Wow, that was corny.”
Alice chuckled. Grant was…well, he wasn’t what she’d expected. At all.
Chapter Four
Grant
Any friend of trees is a friend of mine? Grant groaned inwardly. What a terrible line.
Our mate liked it.
Or at least she’d found his embarrassment at uttering the terrible line endearing, which he had to concede was close enough. She liked them.
Yes. We should claim her. Immediately.
His bear had not been silent on this issue, from the moment Alice had turned up at their door.
Don’t blame me, blame the car alarm,he replied.I wasaboutto tell her—
Tell her what, exactly? He had no clue how that conversation was supposed to go. Hi, I turn into a bear in my spare time, and by the way, you’re my true mate. Let’s hook up?
Exactly.
No, not exactly! We need a little…tact.
His bear was silent for a heartbeat.Then we’re in trouble. You should let me talk to her instead.
You don’t speak, you roar!
Can’t be any worse than your attempts.
Grant suppressed a snort of amusement before Alice could think he was any weirder than she probably already did.
They emerged from the trees and the car came into sight, its blinkers flashed as the alarm wailed, assaulting Grant’s heightened sense of hearing. Alice mashed the button on her key fob again and the air fell mercifully silent.
“Ah, that’s better,” she said. She squinted at the car. “I can’t see any damage…”
“We’re pretty isolated out here,” he said. “Most likely just a squirrel triggering the alarm.”
“Well, that’ll teach me for arming it in the first place. I guess some habits are hard to shake.”
He shot her a quizzical look, and she shook her head dismissively. “Oh, just, you know, I’m not always welcome everywhere I go.”
He was confused for a moment, and then got it. “Ah, what with the standing up against the forces of evil and tree felling?” he teased lightly, and a thrill ran through him as her lips turned up in a smile.
“Yeah, something like that. Being a superhero isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.”
Her levity was almost enough to banish the sadness that there might be anywhere in the world his mate went where she wasn’t welcomed with open arms.
We will make our mate feel welcome every day for the rest of our lives, and hers.
Yes, Grant silently pledged. He would gladly spend his life doing exactly that.
“Well, looks like the Batmobile’s secure,” he said with a smile. “Did you want to come in? I have cocoa.”
“I’d love to,” she said, and then her face fell. “Oh, but I promised Betty that I’d be back in time to help her bake Christmas cookies.”
