Claim.
Ours.
I didn’t even answer him right away, instead running outside and behind the shed that lay just beyond the tree line where I barely got my clothing off in time to let my bear break free.
He’s not ours. We just need to get laid.
Ours.
Mate.
Claim.
No. Run.And I pushed him to obey and we took off into the woods, running as fast as we could. It wasn’t hunting season and it was probably safe to go past our property line even if we got that far, but the way my bear paid no attention whatsoever to his surroundings was very telling. My beast wasn’t in complete control of his actions and that wasn’t good.
We ran and ran and then ran some more until we hit the river that lined the one side of our property. He stopped and drank, the entire time pushing me to go home. And he was right. I should. Poor Candrin wentto take a shower and was going to come home to an empty house. But also, I needed my bear good and tired first. I didn’t need him getting too close to the surface with Candrin around.
I pushed my bear to run as fast as he could back to the shed, hoping it would wear him out enough and by the time we reached it, he was slowing down. I took that as a very good sign. Taking my skin again, I threw on my clothes and jogged back to the house where I found Candrin squatting down as he looked through the fridge, his hair still damp, his shirt clinging to his back where he probably didn’t get it quite dry enough.
I could dry it for him next time.
I shook that thought from myself. The last thing I needed was to get a boner in front of the guy and in these jeans there would be no way of hiding it.
“Any good ideas for dinner?” I asked and he jumped up and quickly shut the door.
“Sorry. I was just…” He turned to face me. “I don’t really know how to do much of this stuff.” He waved his hands around in the air indicating the kitchen.
I’d noticed when we were doing chores that they were not natural to him. Henever complained and worked hard, but more than one thing seemed quite new to him based on the questions he asked and the way he went about everything.
“That’s okay.” I pulled my phone out of my pocket. “I know my way around this.” So much for keeping a budget. “Any allergies?”
He shook his head and I dialed up my favorite pizza place and ordered a couple of large pizzas, one plain and one their house special with pretty much everything on it. When I slid the phone into my pocket, I noticed him looking…I wasn’t sure…uncomfortable was my best guess. Whatever it was, I hated that I was probably the cause of it.
“You ordered pizza.” It wasn’t a question.
“We’re hungry.” Maybe not only for food, but my horniness was not his problem.
“I really don’t have money for that.” He scratched the back of his neck.
“Well, it just so happens that I recently got a little extra money in the form of a rent payment and this one’s on me. I didn’t want to eat alone and I love this pizza.”
“But you left…I thought maybe you were mad that I took my shower first or something.” He stared down at the floor.
There was something so vulnerable about him. I longed to cross the room and hug him. Instead I did something I absolutely hated to do, I lied.
“I had to check something in the shed and then got distracted.” If it wasn’t imperative that I kept my beast a secret, I’d have introduced him right then and there, the sour taste of the lie still in my mouth. “I promise you, the only thing I thought when you said that you were taking a shower, was that you were going to be taking a shower.” And that I shouldn’t be thinking about him in said shower.
“Okay.” He said as if he was just agreeing to move on.
And if it was moving on that he wanted, I was going to give him that.
“That’s a really neat watch you're wearing.”
He ran his finger over the face of it and then told me the story of where it came from and why it was special to him. He relaxed, getting more animated as he spoke. I liked seeing him like that—just beinghimself and not trying so hard not to upset me, as if he had to always be on eggshells or else something horrible would happen.
The doorbell rang and I ran to get the pizza, not wanting Candrin to feel like he needed to contribute to the meal financially. If he was going to have to pay weekly at first, he didn’t have the money to spare. And while I appreciated him paying the full first month, part of me wanted to give it back and tell him to get on his feet first. Only another part of me was shouting that that would make it worse.
And the bear part of me? He was still insisting Candrin was my mate. As if my head wasn’t a confusing enough place already. At least my beast was quieter, relaxing the longer we spent with Candrin. Sure being exhausted contributed to that, but it wasn’t the whole story. It was being around Candrin my bear was loving.
