The Mountie tugged me up the stairs and out of the den with a single-minded efficiency that made arguing seem pointless.
“Were you afraid I’d wake them up?” I asked as he led me back down the hill. “Why couldn’t I at least grab something warmer to wear?”
No answer.
“You don’t have to hold my hand anymore,” I said, glancing toward the distance. “I can see the town from here.”
Still, no answer.
Then, instead of heading downhill, he cut left, leading me down a narrow trail lined by more totem-carved caves.
My very human alarm bells went off again. “Where are you taking me?”
Still, silence.
“Koda, stop!” I yanked back, using all my weight to halt his momentum.
He stopped. Slowly, he turned to face me, his expression annoyed. But he didn’t let go of my hand. Or answer my questions.
“Koda… That’s your name, right? What that...” I scrambled for a signifier less harsh thanguy whose dick you watched me climax on. Three times.And remembered, “Hawk. That’s what Hawk called you.”
Again, no answer. He just stood there, as if waiting for an unruly child to get over her temper tantrum. But I wasn’t a child. Or asking anything I didn’t deserve to know.
“Seriously, what’s going on here?” I demanded, standing my ground. “Why won’t you let me grab more clothes before I leave? Or have my hand back? Or?—”
“Because I can’t,” he bit out, cutting me off before I could finish my growing list ofor-fronted questions. “My bear won’t let me. My bear won’t let me do anything right now but put you in a nest where you belong.”
“Where I belong?” I repeated. And then, like a lightbulb flickering on, realization dawned. “Oh my gosh. Do you think we’re mated—like Noelle and her three partners?”
“Mybeardoes,” he answered from between clenched teeth. “My bear wants me to throw you over my shoulder and carry you to the den nest he made for you. My bear needs you somewhere warm and safe so I can claim you and fill your belly with a cub. Right now, I’m…”
Another grinding clench of his jaw. His hand tightened around mine. “I’m barely holding him back.”
“You’re barely holding him—” My voice gave out, too many questions piling up at once. But one outshone the rest, sharp and dangerous, like a glass shard still lodged in my heart.
“Your bear wants to put ababyin me?” My voice cracked. “That’s why you’re dragging me to another den?”
He didn’t respond right away. The silence stretched, heavy and taut, before he gave one terse nod.
“No.”
“No?” Now it was his turn to repeat, his brow furrowing. “After what happened with your ex-husband, do you no longer want to be a mother?”
“No, I want that,” I answered reflexively, the words spilling out before I could stop them. “I want that more than anything. I was even trying to figure out how to make IVF work on my own. But I can’t…” I shook my head, the glass shard twisting deeper into my chest. “I can’t get pregnant—not without medical intervention.”
This was the bombshell. The big reveal. But Koda just looked down his long nose at me, and said, “That’s not what your bear is telling my bear.”
Mate! Mate! Mate!The voice inside me chanted, relentless.
“I doubt my less-than-day-old bear has a good grasp ofhumananatomy,” I snapped at his terse dismissal. “Or understands how a complicated fertility cycle works—aaahhh!”
The sharp retort cut off as a cramp suddenly doubled me over.
Except, it wasn’t pain.
I recognized it now for what it was. A pulsing ache. Pure, unfiltered need. Trying to bring me to my knees.
“Holly. Holly, look at me,” Koda said urgently, his large hands steadying me as I doubled over. His voice was low, strained, but somehow grounding. “I can feel it. I can feel everything you’re going through.
