Page 16 of Bound to Two Bears

The worry their human displayed said a lot.

Watching him tend to Royce, he saw what kind of mate they’d been paired with. Carson seemed willing to do anything to save Royce. Little did he know that Royce’s wounds would likely heal over rather quickly.

Once they did, Jared was going to be in the middle of a shitstorm unlike anything he’d ever seen.

“The bleeding’s slowing down,” Carson announced. He pealed back the gauze and his eyes grew wide. “Apparently the cuts weren’t as deep as I first thought.”

Jared looked over Carson’s shoulder and saw the once gaping wound was now sealing itself. They were only thin lines, much to Jared’s relief.

Carson relaxed slightly once the emergency appeared contained. He silently dug through the first aid kit and took out a few items before moving away the blood soaked gauze. Without a look or a word to Jared, Carson began to clean the wound and cover it with clean gauze. Jared waited there, knowing there were questions coming. He could sense them radiating within the human even then.

Five or so minutes passed in silence. Jared helped where he assumed he could, but for the most part, Carson did the work.

“What are the two of you?”

Jared slid off the bed and walked around it, to the other side of the bedroom. He leaned against the wall and stared at Carson.

Carson’s gaze drifted to his cock. He averted his gaze, busying himself by cleaning up the mess of bloody gauze and packaging. When he finally looked up and met Jared’s stare, he shivered. “Are you going to answer me?”

“Will you believe me?”

“Denying what I’ve seen tonight would be pointless.”

Interesting reaction. Could he be in shock?“We’re bear shifters.”

Carson stared, his eyes wide. “Were you two the bears I saw earlier tonight?”

Jared nodded, ever watchful of the emotions rolling over Carson’s face at the admission.

Carson breathed out a deep breath, almost in what appeared to be relief. “Why were you fighting?”

“We fought because I wanted to claim our mate tonight and he feared we’d scare him away if we pushed too soon,” Jared murmured.

Carson stared at him, silent. There was another question that lingered in the air, as if the human knew the reason they fought had been him.

“This fighting isn’t normal?”

“No,” Jared replied.

Jared captured Carson’s stare and held it. He saw the lust growing in their human’s eyes and felt his own body grow tighter with need. His bear roared within, demanding he take the spoils of war. He’d won the fight. That was all his beast knew. The human part of him knew better. He’d won nothing and had potentially lost all.

“I think youknowwhy we fought.”

Carson’s breath caught and his eyes rounded even more, but he quickly hid the shock he’d clearly felt. He stared at Jared a few more seconds, as if scrutinizing an alien. Jared figured that was what he was to Carson, something entirely foreign.

He wanted the lust back in the human’s stare and feared it would never return. Not after he’d crossed the line and done the unthinkable.

“You look human now. I’d never know looking at you that you were something more.”

Something more.Jared tamped down on the smile trying to rise to his lips. He hadn’t called them freaks. Hadn’t called them beasts or monsters. They weresomething more.

Jared felt a spark of hope at the sound of that.

“No human can tell,exceptour human mate.”

Carson narrowed his lids. “You mate with humans?”

“We do. Two bears with one human.”

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