I waited. For him to agree, to stand up, to say when he’d be leaving. But he just kept spooning oatmeal into his mouth.
Finally, I had to ask. “So… after this, you’ll be leaving?”
He looked honestly confused. “Why would I do that?”
“Because we just agreed, I can take care of myself.”
“Yeah, you can, but…” He trailed off, considering. “Look, I don’t want to scare you any more than I have, but I’ve gotta be truthful here. I’m not going to let you take care of yourself. I’m not leaving you alone here. I can’t. I just… can’t.”
My stomach dropped with the ugly-but-familiar sensation of someone else deciding my life for me. Turning my apartment into a cage again—even if this time imprisonment came with breakfast.
“Why not?” I managed.
He shook his head. “It’s a long story, sugar. And I can tell you’re not ready to hear it. Not yet.”
Maybe he was right about that.
As confused as I was, I went quiet again. Then I abruptly jumped up from the table and did what I’d wanted to do since sitting back down: scurried off to my room to hide from the Herculean statue who’d saved me, cared for me, and now refused to leave.
9/
canada
BOONE
Fuck.I’d scared her again.
And that was on me.
A stone sank in my chest as I watched Bell disappear into her bedroom.
Wished she would have stayed to talk some more. Even if it was just to argue with me about getting the hell out of her tiny apartment.
But her eyes went hollow when I told her no. Then she just stood up without a word and scuttled into her bedroom. Closing the door I’d left open while she slept behind it.
Like I was something she was trying to keep out.
It took everything I had in me not to push it back open. I hadn’t been lying about needing eyes on her.
My bear had slaughtered the piece of shit who’d done her harm, but it couldn’t calm down. Couldn’t figure out how to help her without upsetting her even more.
This was why the Ayaska mated in threes, I realized.
That wasn’t how it worked in Alaska. We polar bear shifters were all about pretending to be a perfectly normal human one wife, one husband family while keeping our natures hidden. But when Bell closed that door, I realized the Ayaska way had a clear advantage when it came to coverage.
If Niska got in an argument with Zion, then Ravik could go after her and let Zion know over their maul bite that their mate was alright.
I’d seen that happen once. Right in front of me.
“I don’t understand why it matters which Boone brother we choose,” Niska had grumbled after Zion invited me to their two-story Outer Limits cabin to inform her that he and Ravik had made their final decision. “They’re both builders, and they basically smell the same.”
At 6’5” and packing a shit ton of construction muscles, I was larger than either of her current mates, but the new Tuk’Mara threw me a haughty look that made me feel like her smallest servant.
“I assure you, they are not interchangeable, darling,” Zion said, tipping her face back to his, “Also, Ravik and I do not wish to live with Erik’s voice in our heads.”
“But Erik’s a better builder,” Niska argued.
That wasn’t true. I kept my mouth closed, though, knowing I didn’t have the status to argue with her yet.
