"What the hell is this?"Mak’s voice cut through the cozy atmosphere like a thunderclap.
I stopped walking and talking when I saw what my first maul was staring at.
There, lying unconscious in a makeshift nest of blankets, pillows, and the combined den laundry I’d meant to fold and allot tomorrow, was a woman.
A beautiful woman, actually. Her skin was the color of rich chocolate, melted over large, full breasts with dark black-cherry areolas, curvy hips, and luscious thighs. Even in sleep, her full lips parted as if caught mid-sigh. Thick, dark lashes rested against her round cheekbones, and a cascade of braids fanned down from her face, framing her in a way that made her look almost otherworldly. She was… soft. Soft in a way that stirred something primal deep inside me, even as the logical part of my brain reminded me she might have been hurt.
A pang of protectiveness hit me square in the chest—something I couldn’t blame on my instincts as a doctor. It was deeper, rawer. Followed immediately by a tightening in my stomach as my bear stirred to life, sniffing the air, hungry and curious all at once.
“Ursa’s Claw,”I murmured, trying to suppress the wave of new awareness crashing through me.
Mak stepped closer to the woman, his icy gaze narrowing."She’s got a bite mark on her shoulder,"he growled, his voice low and dangerous."That must mean..."
More Ursa’s Claws spilled from my lips as my pulse quickened. My eyes swept the room, taking in the nest of clothes, the shredded fabric clinging to her otherwise naked body, and the faint trail of snow leading from the door. But most striking of all…
The fresh bite mark on her silky-smooth shoulder, so deep it had broken skin—and left an already healed but permanent and indelible mark.
"I had the best dream last night!"
Before I could say anything else to Mak, Cody emerged from his bedroom, rubbing his eyes."Wait..."His nose twitched, and his stomach let out a loud, unapologetic growl.
“Did one of you decide to make chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast? It smells great in here—”His words caught in his throat when his gaze fell on the woman.
He stopped short, his expression morphing from groggy confusion to full-blown horror..
“Oh, shit,”he said, his voice barely above a whisper.“It wasn’t a dream.”
mak
. . .
“That’s a bite mark!”My teeth ground together as my eyes flicked from Cody back to the human—the formerly human woman—lying unconscious in the middle of our den. In a nest Cody’s Kodiak had obviously constructed for her—clumsily, if the overturned basket next to the pile of random blankets, pillows, and freshly washed clothes was any indication.
My chest tightened, a low, guttural growl rising from deep within me. Both my bears stirred, restless and agitated, their awareness sharpening as their noses caught more of her scent. It wasn’t just the usual sweetness of a fresh bond bite; it was… intoxicating. Dangerous. My black bear rumbled hungrily, and even my usually cold and aloof polar bear thrummed with an unfamiliar urgency to claim the curvy little Fresh Bite.
But…
"I'm the Tuk'mara!" I snapped, trying to push down the primal heat building inside me. "Our maul can't just mate anybody!What the hell were you thinking, bond biting her? Giving her a mate mark without talking to me or Ash first?"
“I wasn’t thinking—obviously,” Cody shot back, his voice defensive, though the edges of it wavered with guilt. “The last thing I remember was deciding to leave the Bronco at the diner with the keys inside and walk home in bear form, just in case someone else needed it during denning season. Then, I had this dream about finding a beautiful woman passed out in the snow. At least, I thought it was a dream....”
He turned to Ash, his amber eyes wide and pleading. “Is she okay? Tell me I didn’t hurt her.”
Ash, who’d been frozen in place since we walked in, finally sprang into action, pushing past me with his medical bag. He knelt beside the makeshift nest, but the moment he leaned over her, his shoulders stiffened, and his nostrils flared.
“Ursa’s Claws,” he murmured, his voice low and strained. “She smells good.”
Understatement. The Fresh Bite’s scent, rich and warm, wafted through the den like a drug, clinging to the back of my throat and making my pulse thunder in my ears. The two bears inside me growled in unison, their voices blending as one.
Claim her. Protect her.
Holy fuck…my blood heated, thick and molten, and the ache in my groin tightened with alarming speed. My nostrils flared as the scent of her filled my lungs, sharper now, undercut with something primal that made my bears snap their teeth and demand action.
I forced a growl low in my throat, trying to focus on anything but the unbearable pull toward her. “Ash,” I bit out, my voice rough. “Can you handle this?”
Ash didn’t respond right away. His hands trembled as he pulled a stethoscope from his bag, and his pupils were dilated when he glanced back at me. “I’m fine,” he said, nonetheless.
“She probably had a concussion if you found her passed out in the snow,”Ash said, his clinical tone faltering as he started his exam.“Not to mention frostbite. It’s lucky you bit her, or she might’ve died of hypothermia on top of her concussion.”
