Fuck.
“I get it,” she whispered in a way that felt worse than if she’d shouted at me. “And I’ll figure this out on my own. Just let me pass.” Her face crumpled a little, and she looked down at the ground. “Please.”
“No.”
Bell and I looked up from our standoff to find Vik regarding the two of us like an exasperated father.
He’d returned to his original position behind the counter and was facing us again, but he was still struggling with his bear.
Poor guy. Now that we’d exchanged long-overdue maul bites, I could feel the confusion churning inside of him.
Sure, he’d had access to the memory of her arousal scent going off without Bell necessarily being aware of it. But there wasn’t anything that could have prepared him for it actually going off—while she told us sex was off the table.
She wasn’t a bear yet, but it was like her human was saying no while her animal was telling our bears to come and get it. It was a true mindfuck for someone like Vik, who’d never been sent unintentionally mixed signals.
It’d popped off a wrestling match with his black bear, who didn’t know how to be patient.
At least not when it came to our future mate.
To me, he silently said,“I’ve got my bear under control. Don’t worry.”
But I could tell that control of his was hanging on by a string, with the bear he’d never had to deny before roaring in the background.
“He was only joking,” Vik told Bell through gritted teeth. “Do not run away again. Sit back down so Boone can explain to you what he meant.”
Bell stilled in that wounded-bird way of hers. Her eyes flared wide. I wasn’t inside her head yet, but on a primal level, I could practically feel her vibrating with the need to flee.
“C’mon, you’re brave,” I reminded her. “Bravest girl I know.”
She looked between me and Vik. Once, twice. Then, as if deciding I was the less dangerous option, she turned fully to me to ask, “Why would you joke about something like that?”
Okay, she was staying. Looking real fucking annoyed with me, sure, but not bolting like a scared rabbit.
My chest nearly caved with relief.
Then I lowered my hands to give her the answer that made her eyes flare with surprise, then crinkle into a smile.
bell
As it turned out, the bears weren’t kicking me out but keeping their promise to let me pick a place of my own.
That afternoon, I found myself walking between Boone and Ravik down a bendy road to choose any house I wanted in the ghost town they simply called the Outer Limits. Like the variously sized cabins were on some kind of game show prize carousel.
Was I incredibly grateful for the unexpected gift of privacy while I pulled myself together mentally enough to face my daughters? Absolutely.
Did I know what to do with the jumble of feelings swirling around in my chest that they’d do this for me, even after I’d let them know that sex was completely off the table? Absolutely not!
“Seriously, any house I want?” I asked Boone, barely able to believe the offer.
“As long as it’s between two other houses,” Boone answered. “But if I were you, I’d pick one of the smaller, one-floor ones. Easier to keep heated until Vik can get the boiler and baseboard system back up and running.”
I was grateful for the guidance. Most of the houses were two stories, like the one I’d spent last night in, but I liked having the decision narrowed down for me. I happily explored only the one-floor houses, which were in various states of disrepair.
Some just had a generous coating of dust and stale, cold air. Others had sagging ceilings or soft spots in the floors where leaks and years of freeze-thaw had warped the wood. In a few places, I could see daylight through cracked windowpanes and gaps in the roof.
“Okay, correction,” Boone said the first time we entered one of the more dilapidated houses. “You can have any house you want as long as it’s up to code. It’s our job to keep you safe, and none of us would be able to sleep knowing something could happen to you here.”
Their job?
