Page 70 of Salvation

He’d fully expected Anna to go pale at that comment — because, Jesus, wasn’t it enough to learn about bears for starters? But she’d just taken Fay back and nuzzled her with her nose. “Healthy and happy. A good start. Right, sweetie?”

The four of them had crowded into the little apartment above the garage with the babies in one room and Anna and him in the other. In the few quiet times they got, Anna asked a lot of questions, and what he couldn’t find a way to explain, Sarah, Jessica, and Janna did, thank God. Anna had made him shift back and forth a few times, and slowly, she’d gone from wide-eyed to inquisitive and even delighted. She’d petted his fur, rubbed his ears, and laughed at his tail.

“I can’t believe it,” she chuckled. “I’m in love with a man who has a tail.”

“My bear’s the one with a tail,” he’d growled.

“My bear,” she corrected immediately.

Her bear.He’d been going to sleep each night floating away on those words.

Which made it torture not to give her the mating bite the couple of times they’d had the chance to be alone. The first night back at the apartment over the garage, all they’d done was hang on to each other and stare wordlessly into each other’s eyes. But on the second night, after they’d gotten the kids to bed, they’d stripped and went at it like a couple of animals. A couple of breathlessly quiet animals, hoping the cubs wouldn’t stir. On the third night, they were too exhausted to do anything except nuzzle, but when they’d risen the next morning, the kids had slept long enough to let them take it slow and sweet.

“What does the bear do when he finds his mate?” she’d whispered to him afterward.

You mean, other than worship her for the rest of his life?he’d nearly said.

He cleared his throat and chose his words carefully. “When she’s ready, he marks her as his. And she marks him the same way.”

“How?”

That was the tricky part, because how could he ever explain the concept of a mating bite in a way that wouldn’t make a human blanch?

Luckily, Anna continued her question before he could speak. Her voice dropped and her eyes fluttered. “With a mating bite?”

Apparently, Sarah and the other women had briefed her on that, too. And dang, they must have really explained it well — the incredible high, the burning burst of passion that came with a bite delivered at the height of sex that all mated shifters raved about — because Anna looked like she wouldn’t mind trying it out for herself.

He’d kissed the curve of her neck, then raked his teeth against her skin, testing her out. Every time he did it, her body rose against his, and the heat between them built to unstoppable levels again. But he’d held back. It had taken everything he had, but he’d managed somehow.

“We have time,” he’d whispered. Much as he’d love to roam in the woods with his gorgeous mate in bear form, he figured that turning into a bear was one adjustment Anna had better put off a little while.

“A lifetime,” she’d whispered back.

So Anna was in. All in. With him, with the kids. It was crazy, the way fate worked.

“So,” she’d said next, looking around the tiny apartment. “We’ll need our own place.”

He nodded. Space. A reliable income. A safe home for the kids. That’s what they needed. But where?

“Montana.” Anna said it before he did. “How about Montana?”

Yes, there were a lot of ghosts in Montana, but there were a lot of good memories, too.

Soren, Sarah, and the others all but begged them to stay and help run the saloon, but Anna was just as excited at the prospect of Montana as he was. She could find work just about anywhere, and there was nothing tying her to Virginia any more.

“You’re really sure?” Soren asked on the day they were all set to leave. Anna’s little hatchback was stuffed with baby gifts and hand-me-downs, and everyone was gathered around to say good-bye. “You’re welcome to stay,” Soren offered for the tenth time in two weeks.

Todd shifted Ben in his arms and looked the cub in the eyes. They were clear and brown — and sleepy, too. The little guy yawned, showing his pink tongue and tiny milk teeth. Todd rubbed him between the ears.

“Yeah. I’m sure.”

Arizona was okay, but Montana was home, and it would be better for the kids, too. More space, more privacy. There was a possibility that Ben might never come out of bear form, and it would be easier to bring him up on a remote mountain property than in the middle of a town.

“You’re really sure?” Sarah looked at Anna.

Anna nodded. “Never been so sure of anything in my life.”

Good thing bears couldn’t explode from joy — or sheer relief.

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