He nodded, accepting her explanation at face value. “All in all, I got really lucky. As a teenager, I was really antsy. I couldn’t sit still, couldn’t stop moving, always needed to be doing something. I barely slept, ate everything in sight, and needed something to occupy my mind all the time. The only place I felt a little at peace was in the woods.”
“Sounds like a typical shifter teen.”
“Yeah, but my parents didn’t know what to do with that. And my sister was as quiet as a mouse, so she was no help. Luckily, my grandfather liked to go fishing. My dad wasn’t much into it, but Grandpa loved it. He’d take me all over Michigan, and while he fished, I would prowl around.”
She adjusted her position so that their legs were touching. When that wasn’t enough, she entwined her legs with his. “Is that a bear thing? To go foraging in the woods?”
He teased his foot along her calf. “Wolves don’t do it?”
“Not alone. We’re all about group hunts. Packs of six or eight of us would go running together through the woods. All my favorite childhood memories are from doing that, before everyone started shifting, that is.”
“Did they still run as wolves?”
She nodded. “Then it became more about who was the fastest, biggest, meanest wolf. Even if they wanted a straight human with them—which they didn’t—it would be too dangerous. I would have gotten ripped to shreds. The only reason our teens survive is because they shift back to human when their wounds get too bad.”
He nodded. “The bears do some of that as teens, but it’s not important to us.” He raised his arms high as if he were an attacking bear. “Roar! I’m an evil bear! Oh, look at that. It’s a girl bear. Hi!” He dropped back down on the bed as he grinned at her. “I don’t know if it’s the human or the bear that’s so hyper-sexed. The minute we scent a female, it’s all about her. And girls don’t usually like big, bad bears. We’re too scary, even if she’s a shifter, too.”
“The big predators don’t need to show off their strength, but take it from a girl—we notice.” She stroked her knee up his thigh. “And we do appreciate it.”
He grinned at her. “That’s good to know.” He waggled his eyebrows at her. “I’ve got a cabin in the UP. Come up there with me and I’ll get big bad bear on you.”
She laughed, and her heart beat with yearning. She couldn’t imagine anything more perfect than wandering around the UP with him. Bear or human, hybrid or vanilla woman, she wanted to wander the forest with him.
But she had to live through the next few days in order to get there. And the longer Noelle stayed silent, the more likely Frankie’s death became. But rather than give in to those darker thoughts, she reached out. Ryan’s penis was thick and heavy where it lay against his flat belly. Not a full erection, but damn it was nice to stroke it. Large enough to hold on to, thick enough to fill her to bursting, and within easy reach.
The wolves she knew would never be this relaxed with her. Not enough to expose their belly and their organ to easy reach. Even with a lover, wolves had an ingrained guardedness. Pack culture led to a kind of hive mind at times, but instead of making intimacy more open, it had the opposite effect. Private things were guarded obsessively. Made it hard to reveal oneself even when one wanted to.
“Hey? What are you thinking?”
Her gaze hopped to his. And even though her hands were busy stroking him, his eyes were focused on her. “Nothing really. Why?”
“Your expression went sad.” He stroked a finger along her cheek. “We don’t have to go up to the UP if you don’t want to.” And with his other hand, he stilled her movements down below. “And you don’t have to distract me, either.”
Even if she was distracting herself?
He gently disentangled her fingers and brought them up to his mouth. “What’s going on in that very scary brain of yours?”
She arched a brow. “Scary brain? What are you talking about?”
He rolled his eyes. “Maybe I haven’t been stalking you for years, but I noticed you. I’ve never seen anyone keep as many balls in the air as you do. You were the force behind the community center. I know you managed the books for the wolves after you got your CPA license. I’m just figuring out how many people you support in wolf territory, and I know you’ve been trying to get a free clinic off the ground. Any one of those would be a full-time job, but you’re doing all of it. Easily.”
“Not easily.”
“It looks it.” His eyes narrowed. “Just how much does Emory take for granted?”
“A lot,” she said softly, inordinately pleased that he’d noticed. Ever since she’d turned hybrid, the need to be seen for who she was burned especially bright. Like an itch under her skin that she couldn’t get to. Until him. His words, his understanding, even his gaze told her that hesawher. And that soothed her as nothing and no one else ever had.
Oh hell. It would be so easy to fall in love with him. A wolf head over heels for a bear was bad enough—the jokes alone would be humiliating—but she intended to take over her pack. She’d never become alpha with a bear by her side. No one would follow her.
Meanwhile, he was still pressing to find out about her place in the pack. “Do the wolves know how much you do for them?”
She smiled. “The women know what I do. They’re my main support and my connection to what the men are doing.”
He nodded. “Smart.”
“And my father takes it all for granted. Everything.” She sighed. “Or maybe he sees it, but can’t acknowledge it. What I do is usually reserved for the alpha female.”
“Your mother isn’t up to it?”
