Page 108 of Knot Her Mountain Men

Hate turned his eyes sharp. “Don’t you dare fucking leave me here.”

Bear turned, carrying me back up the trail toward the lodge, Pumpkin at our side.

“Morgan!” Brandon wailed my name until we were out of earshot.

“Are we actually leaving him?”

“We can call the sheriff when we get in,” Bear grumbled, wincing at the toll it took to use his voice.

“Wait a second. Let me stand for a minute.”

Bear set me on my feet but kept his arms around me.

“I didn’t have time to think about a lot while running for my life, but I had time to think about the important things. I knew I couldn’t die without telling you I love you and I really want to stay. I want your pack to bemypack and I want the lodge to be my home.”

His deep brown eyes were like a bottomless well, tears making them shiny as he dipped down to capture my mouth in a kiss that poured out all of his longing.

He whispered, “I love you,” against my lips.

The affection I always felt from him in the bond turned molten, filling me from the tips of my toes all the way to the top of my head. Desire lit me up from the inside out, a cramp twisting my stomach, and heat making me crave stripping down to lie in the snow.

Bear pulled away, his gaze flicking over my face. “Home. Now.”

My alpha scooped me back up and took off at a run. I whined in his arms. What the fuck was going on? Was my body going to respond to sprinting for my life with making me want to melt out of existence?

By the time the lodge came into view, I was a mess of desperation, slick dripping and core pulsing.

“Bear,” I gasped out. “What’s happening?”

“Heat,” he whispered simply.

“But I just had one!”

Fuck. Now that he had said it, I recognized the sensations, but this wasn’t a heat crawling in slowly over several days. This one had shown up to punch me in the face.

We weren’t prepared for this one. No one else was even home.

Ineededthem.

We burst inside and Bear quickly bolted the door behind us, racing upstairs with his boots still on. He set me on the edge of my nest and I tore off my clothes, shedding them as quickly as I could while he did the same.

“Bear.” I whined, clinging tightly to him. “You have to tell them. Don’t stop them from biting me this time.”

He cupped my cheek, hands shaking. “You’re sure?”

“Yes.” I shivered. “No one is allowed to take me from you. I’m going to want them when they get back and I don’t know where my head will be at when that happens. I need you to tell them for me.”

His lips took mine again, tangling the hot desire pouring down the bond from him with the need booming through my body.

“Tell me you will,” I insisted when we broke away for air.

“I will,” he whispered.

“You’ll keep me?”

“Forever.”

I let myself sink under, surrendering, knowing I was safe in Bear’s arms.

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