Page 5 of Renaissance Bear

No, we— Jon looked around frantically, and to his heart-lurching shock, saw the green-clad beauty from before slipping away from the crowd.There! That's our mate!

His bear looked back and forth between the Black Knight and the Green-Eyed Woman's disappearing back as she faded into the fairgrounds, then beamed at Jon from inside his head.Our mate!

Blood rushed through Jon's ears, sending a wave of dizziness over him.Our…mate?

Yes. Our mate is a great fighter,the bear said with considerable admiration.Fierce and strong. Stronger than all the rest! And beautiful!

Jon stared blankly toward the Black Knight, who had turned away, and then once more looked after the dark-haired, green-eyed woman who was now invisible with fading light and distance. "Our…mate?"

You have gotten very stupid,his bear informed him airily.Be quiet and follow our mate.

But which…?

It didn't matter. The Black Knight had been swept into a crowd of admirers, and the woman was long gone. Jon, still dizzy, staggered away from the fighting ring. He needed to talk to Laurie. He needed to sit down. He needed adrink. Not necessarily in that order, but all of those things could be accomplished at the Thunder Bear Tavern, so he staggered that way, trying to order his thoughts.

Hismate. The bear was certain of it. They'd seen the lady, and she was Jon's mate, and they'd seen the Black Knight, andhewas Jon's mate, and…

Jon definitely needed a drink.

Not that he was in the habit of drinking through his problems. He thought that for somebody whose family owned a brewery, he probably drank remarkably little. But once in a while, a drink was the only answer to sit and think with. Now, for example. Definitely now.

The sun had just fallen behind the mountains, and the air was getting colder, meaning that although the faire didn't close for another ninety minutes, people were now mostly starting to headoutinstead ofin.Jon moved against the tide, barely able to put one foot in front of another, much less think very clearly. His mind kept flashing back and forth between the woman in green and the armored knight, unable to…choose?

His bear rolled its eyes.Why choose?

Jon made a slightly panicked noise in his throat and surged into the Thunder Bear Tavern, which was still incredibly busy with the First Friday crowd. Patrons sat around the log chairs and tables, drinking local beer and shouting cheerful conversations at each other. A number of faire workers had already drifted in, ready for the after-faire party—the tavern didn't usually close until midnight or one a.m., although technically they could stay open as late as two, and sometimes did at the end of the faire.

"Jon!" Laurie, still in the thigh-to-ankle knee brace, lurched over from behind the bar. "Thank god, it's nuts and I'm slow as hell with this thing, I need help!"

"No, Laur, I'm…I gotta…I need to…" What Jonwantedto do was go hide behind the tent with a beer while he stared into the distance, but his brother was right: the tavern was crazy busy. There were enough staff members if they were all in full fighting form, but Laurie's injury really did mean the service was obviously running slow.

And a few months ago their cousin Ashley had taken Jon to task over not treating the pub work as a serious job. She'd been right, too. He and Laurie spent the summers at not just Renaissance's faire, but at other ones around the country, running the tavern and promoting their family's brewery. They'd both gotten in the habit of basically taking the rest of the year off, helping out in a pinch, but not, like…activelyhelping, even when they were scheduled.

Ashley had become the brewpub's manager just before last Thanksgiving, and had been completely fed up with the two youngest Torben brothers by Christmas. She'd ripped Jon a new one, and he'd been trying to do better since.

Which meant that no matter how much he wanted to go hide and try to wrap his mind around his…mates…

He could barely even think it. Better to get busy slinging beer and helping his brother out. "I gotcha, Laur."

Laurie said, "Thank God," again, and for a while Jon really was too busy to think. The tavern was their pride and joy, a lot of work but a lot of fun, and Laurie's "Last call!" forty minutes later came as an actual shock to Jon. Then they were crazy busy again, pulling the last drinks for faire attendees, and all at once the remaining patrons were on their feet, heading out with promises to be back later in the faire.

A few minutes after ten, with stars glittering overhead, Jon finally grabbed a beer for himself and went to throw himself on the ground behind the tavern tent. Laurie limped out after him, gesturing accusingly. "What are you doing? We've got twenty people in there still!"

"They work the faire," Jon said to the stars. "They can wait a few minutes on their beer. Besides, the tavern wenches are covering it. Laurie, I think I might be…bi?"

"Be by what?" Laurie sat down awkwardly on a stump, stretching his injured leg out and glaring at it. "It sucks that I've got to wear the stupid thing all summer. How did the qualifiers go?"

Laurie brightened as he asked the question, and Jon tried to sink into the dirt and expire of embarrassment, admitting, "I lost. I was doing really well, I totally had him, but then…I saw my mate, Laur."

Laurie, in the middle of an 'aw man yousuck' tirade, sat bolt upright and gaped at him. "What? You what? Here? Your mate? Dude! Holy crap! Congratulations! Mom's gonna flip!"

"Yeah, no, I know, I mean, she lost me the fight," that was with a thin crack of laughter that Laurie echoed much more loudly, "but she was gorgeous, Laurie. I don't know her name, I don't know anything, I just…but then…"

"But then what, dude?"

"I was at the lists later," Jon said faintly, gaze focused hard on the stars above. "I caught a glimpse of her leaving, but I also…the, um. Um. The Black Knight?"

"Yeah, Lord Edward." Laurie's tone turned sulky. "Again, hurting myself totally blows. I was gonna kick that dude's ass."

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