“You’re in estrus,” he explained, his tone walking the thin line between patience and urgency. “Even if you’re right about your chances of a viable pregnancy without medical help, neither your bear nor mine will let you go home until your cycle is done.”
My nurse brain scrambled to keep up, tangling what I knew of human biology with the crash course in shifter reality I’d been force-fed. “So this is, like, the most obnoxious form of ovulation ever?”
“Exactly.” His face softened, though the strain lingered around his eyes. “Both our bears want you in a nest, taking my seed, no matter the outcome.”
“How long?” I gasped out, clutching his shoulders as another wave of estrus thundered through me. “How long does this last? A day? Two, tops?”
“Sometimes,” he admitted with a grimace. “But sometimes it takes up to a week.”
“Oh, God.” My stomach dropped, panic bubbling up as my body betrayed me again. The slick heat of arousal dripped down my thighs, utterly unbidden.
MARK HIM!The voice inside me roared, louder and more insistent.
I once again felt that weird smearing urge rise inside of me, clawing its way to the surface.Oh no! Oh no! No! No!
I desperately dug my nails into Koda’s shoulders, holding on to him like an anchor against the slather-your-pussy-juice-all-over-his-face storm raging inside me. I couldn’t let it take over again. Not now. Not like this.
“Holly, let me help you.” Koda's grip on my arms tightened, firm but not harsh, as if he understood the urge I was fighting not to fingerpaint my essence onto his sharp, way too handsome face. “I know you’re not ready for this. I’m not either. But we don’t have a choice. Our bears won’t let us stop until this cycle runs its course.”
He actually wanted me to do this. To try. To see if together we could create something I’d stopped believing in.
The question rose in my mind, like that red heart-shaped balloon I thought he’d popped:What if?
What if everything I thought was impossible wasn’t anymore? What if this could work? Could I trust it? Could I trusthim?
My breath hitched as I stared into his dark, steady eyes.
What if?
The shard of hope in my chest pierced through the panic, daring me to imagine a different ending for myself. One where I wasn’t broken. Where I wasn’t alone.
I didn’t have an answer. Not yet. But it was the possibility—the tiniest sliver of hope—that led me to my final response.
Clutching that fragile hope, I whispered, “Okay.”
13/
ready or not
holly
Koda wasn’t ready for me. And I most definitely wasn’t ready for him.
But I said, “Okay,” anyway.
“Okay?” He cupped my face, his dark eyes somber as he asked, “Are you sure?”
“No.” The need coursing through me like a runaway train made my words come out shaky and desperate. Practically a sob. “But okay, anyway—at least until this weird bear estrus lets me think straight again.”
His gaze searched mine. For what felt like an eternity. Then he finally said, “Okay,” too.
Keeping our eyes locked, he lifted me into his arms like something out of a cheesy romance film. If romance films ever featured Mountie bear shifters with raging hard-ons. Agreeingto service you because you were both caught up in some weird ovulation thrall.
Okay, actually, nothing like a cheesy romance film.
Nonetheless, my heart couldn’t help but thrill at the obvious rush he was in as he ferried me up the narrow totem-den-lined road into…
Whoa.My eyes widened when he carried me across the threshold of a cave home that I could only describe as theexact oppositeof my sister’s cozy Flintstone’s setup.
