Of course, I didn’t say that. But his words calmed me.
The lustful haze in my mind had lifted—he was right about that. The strange, insistent need still pulsed beneath my skin, burning in the pit of my stomach. But it no longer felt like a psychotic break.
Happy, contented feelings rushed through me as I let myself be comforted by him, melting deeper into his hug.
“What’s your name?”he asked. Then, as if he could feel my spike of mortification at realizing I'd just very wet humped someone who didn't even know my name, he added softly,“No need to be embarrassed. Just tell me who you are, cocoa bean. We’re all dying to know.”
For some reason, I found it easy to obey his gentle command. The spike of mortification ebbed, and I whispered into his neck,“Noelle. My name is Noelle. And you’re…?”
“Mate,”a voice inside my head answered before he could speak. It was like mine but deeper, more resonant and primal. My left shoulder tingled as the not-quite-me voice insisted,Mate. Mine. My mate.
“Yes, I’m your mate,”the lumberjack said softly.“If you’ll have me—have us.”
Wait. Could he…?
I stiffened in his warm embrace. Could he hear me? Hear my thoughts?
“Yes, I can hear you, Noelle.”A deeper voice that wasn’t his—but somehow was—answered inside my mind, clear as day.“And by the way, that’s a beautiful name.”
noelle
. . .
He was inside my head!
I jolted and tried to pull back from the stranger's embrace, but the lumberjack held on to me.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,”he said, his voice gentle but firm.“But sometimes with Fresh Bites, it’s easier to show than to tell. Because telling sounds… you know… just plain crazy.”
Fresh Bites? What?
For a moment, confusion threatened to overwhelm me. But I was a surgical nurse—trained to keep calm, even when blood suddenly began spurting out of nowhere and the attending surgeon was barking commands while the patient began coding on the table.
“Okay, how about we start with telling,”I said, forcing my voice to stay steady.“Telling meout loud, not in some creepy deep voice inside my head. Who you are, what this is, and why I’mfeeling a nearly uncontrollable urge to jump all of your bones? Even the mean, glary guy with the serious case of resting thundercloud face.”
“Okay, yeah. Let’s do that,”Lumberjack said, his somber expression softening slightly. Even though he wasn’t smiling, I could tell he was amused. No, wait—I couldfeelhe wasamused.
In my shoulder.
What the hell???
As hot as these guys were, I was growing increasingly concerned about my mental state—also lustful, but mostly concerned.
“I’m Cody,” the lumberjack with the cinnamon smell told me. “That mean glary guy is Makari—but everyone calls him Mak. And last but not least, there’s Ashak—or Ash—he’s the guy you just, um, marked for mating.”
“Marked for mating?”My alarm skyrocketed.“What does that mean? Why would I do something like that?”
“Because the bear that bit you is an idiot,”Mak muttered through clenched teeth, his icy-blue eyes glaring daggers at Cody.
“Ash, are you done licking her off your face?”Cody asked, twisting his head toward the guy I'd apparently—checks insanely embarrassing notes—marked for mating.“This explaining stuff isn’t exactly my strong suit unless it’s on a menu.”
I turned to look at Ash, who immediately dropped his hands to his sides, his face reddening.Had he really been licking them?
“I know this is confusing, Noelle.”He cleared his throat and began speaking in a calm, level voice before I could dwell toolong on the question.“If it’s any solace, it almost always is for Fresh Bites. That’s what we Bear Mountain locals call newly turned bears.”
“Why do you keep mentioning bears?”I asked, narrowing my eyes.“Is this some kind of gang thing? Are you guys criminals? Like that Dark Wolf MC biker gang?”
As a surgical nurse, I’d seen plenty of their victims on the operating table, but strangely, never an actual member of the infamous outlaw motorcycle club.
