Even Zion, who tended not to concern himself with the day-to-day running of the house, felt compelled to remind me, “It’s of utmost importance that you stay inside.” But at least he bothered to explain why. “We would never hurt you, even in bear form. But the outlaw gang from the other side of the lake has been known to wander. I do not think you are aware of the immeasurable amount of heartbreak we would suffer if anything were to ever happen to you.”
Two and a half months. I’d only known them two and a half months, but somehow I sensed he was being serious.
“I won’t go anywhere, don’t worry,” I answered, not sure how else to respond to that.
But the house felt wrong after I closed the door behind them and watched them shift into bears before loping away down the road. Empty.
I tried to appreciate the unprecedented alone time in Ravik’s house. Started a few sketches, tried to watchRap Star Wiveson the flat-screen smart TV Ravik had purchased, which actually had a StreamFlix account.
Zion never wanted to watch it with me.
But nothing worked.
Incomplete.
Boone’s description of his life before being bonded echoed in my head.
I finally understood what he meant.
Because as I went to bed alone for the first time in weeks, I felt incomplete, too.
I fell asleep in a gigantic bed that felt cold without even one body other than mine to warm it up.
But I woke inside a furnace.
What…?
I opened my eyes to find all three of my bears curled around me—human, naked, safe. Ravik’s arm lay across my waist. Zion’s face was pressed into the back of my locks. Boone was at my feet. There were twigs in his hair, which had gotten unruly again since I cut it. He had a hand curled around my ankle for some reason.
They all came awake a few seconds after I did. Like a tripwire alarm.
“I missed you,” I whispered.
“We missed you, too,” Zion mumbled against the back of my head, his resonant baritone husky with sleep.
Ravik pulled me to him tighter, and Boone squeezed my ankle.
I sat up inside the triangle they’d made around me, unable to believe they all came straight back to me as soon as they turned back to their human forms.
Two and a half months, but they’d already become so dear to me.
My chest squeezed so tightly, it was painful, vibrating with a new feeling….
The word rose up like a wave.
Love.
I loved them.
All three of them.
Completely. Terrifyingly. Undeniably.
Not the boozy love I had with Naheem before he died. Not the dutiful love I performed for years to survive with Dennis.
This was something else entirely.
This was waking up between them and knowing I never wanted to be anywhere else.
